Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Purchases 5,983 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 60,117 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,983 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 267,732 shares of company stock valued at $199,652,003. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $767.37 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $725.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $655.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

About Meta Platforms

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.