Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total transaction of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total transaction of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $509.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $480.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

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.