Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Buys 908 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,177 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares in the last quarter. Voyager Global Management LP grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $574.41.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 384,783 shares of company stock worth $194,001,589. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.55 on Tuesday, reaching $526.73. 7,928,837 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,272,739. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $501.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $489.81. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $276.03 and a 12 month high of $542.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.