Premier Fund Managers Ltd Has $18.35 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 58.1% to a total of 31,815 shares, valued at $18,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
• Research analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with estimates reaching as high as $900.00, indicating a strong market demand for the stock.
• Meta reported earnings of $7.14 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 21.6% increase in revenue year-over-year, amounting to $47.52 billion.

Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 58.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,815 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 11,695 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 566,601 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $326,566,000 after purchasing an additional 74,816 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 51.5% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 25,716 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $14,822,000 after buying an additional 8,739 shares during the period. Creekside Partners increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Creekside Partners now owns 672 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 10,305 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,939,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.9% during the first quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,734 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,576,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Wedbush upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 167,298 shares of company stock valued at $116,742,790. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1%

META traded up $8.07 on Wednesday, reaching $771.53. 6,427,694 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,569,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $707.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $648.07.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.