Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 208,475 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,117,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.8% of Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Creekside Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $327,000. NCP Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 114,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $57,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $2,333,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 52.8% in the second quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 25,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,608,000 after purchasing an additional 8,638 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $529,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $597.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $576.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $519.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $500.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $583.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 308,462 shares of company stock worth $162,308,065. 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.