Spinnaker Investment Group LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Spinnaker Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 638 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of META stock traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $528.00. 11,304,691 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $276.03 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $502.48 and its 200-day moving average is $490.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

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. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were 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 was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total value of $8,916,696.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,104,462.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

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.