1ST Source Bank Buys 868 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

1ST Source Bank grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,106 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 868 shares during the period. 1ST Source Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $406,316,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $533.28 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $544.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $505.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $495.81.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares in the company, valued at $126,765,650. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares in the company, valued at $126,765,650. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,750 shares in the company, valued at $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock worth $185,587,773. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.