Alhambra Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alhambra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,004 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $572.51.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,753 shares in the company, valued at $4,130,103.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,130,103.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 335,860 shares of company stock worth $167,199,478 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $13.96 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $529.91. The company had a trading volume of 8,060,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,390,000. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $497.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $484.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.