Rathbones Group PLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rathbones Group PLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 39.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 447,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 126,280 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.2% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $257,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benchstone Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,749,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total transaction of $398,090.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 4,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,658,270. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total value of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,243 shares of company stock valued at $200,605,051 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 target price (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $785.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $724.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $655.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.