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

Auxano Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 23.3% in the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,151 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares during the period. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.7% in the third quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Lake Street Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the third quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC now owns 19,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,028,000 after buying an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 13,708 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,115,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,276,482 shares of company stock worth $620,451,095 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $2.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $430.17. The stock had a trading volume of 17,706,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,419,975. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $493.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $406.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.