Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Raised by Pictet North America Advisors SA

Pictet North America Advisors SA raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,643 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.1% of Pictet North America Advisors SA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $808.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 154,285 shares of company stock valued at $105,518,153. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ META opened at $716.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $658.89 and its 200 day moving average is $630.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.