Apella Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,042 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 453 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $494.78 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $478.95 and a 200 day moving average of $446.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at $138,567,991.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total value of $295,594.65. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,568 shares in the company, valued at $19,993,314.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total value of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at $138,567,991.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,169 shares of company stock worth $153,344,736 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.