Mount Lucas Management LP Acquires New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mount Lucas Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 339 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ META opened at $525.60 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $495.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.