Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Buys 1,413 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,195 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 385,688 shares of company stock valued at $194,424,740 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META traded up $1.86 on Monday, reaching $529.28. The company had a trading volume of 9,869,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,325,153. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $501.01 and a 200-day moving average of $489.45. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $276.03 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. The business's revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.

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