Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $574.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total transaction of $8,827,174.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 72,473 shares in the company, valued at $38,302,705.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.57, for a total transaction of $423,150.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,275 shares in the company, valued at $20,234,091.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total transaction of $8,827,174.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 72,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,302,705.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 349,174 shares of company stock valued at $175,146,777. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ META traded down $9.91 on Friday, hitting $527.42. The stock had a trading volume of 14,715,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,365,660. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $500.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $487.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $542.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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