Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 40,925 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 470,187 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 40,925 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.1% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $237,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted 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 valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.69, for a total value of $431,404.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,197,355.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.69, for a total value of $431,404.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,197,355.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of META traded down $3.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $528.00. 11,304,691 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The stock's 50-day moving average is $502.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $491.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $276.03 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business's revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an "underperform" rating and a $360.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued 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 a consensus price target of $574.41.

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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