D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 11,632 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 69,139 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,632 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Voyager Global Management LP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 400.0% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $512.74 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $505.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $493.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total transaction of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total transaction of $8,404,112.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,478 shares in the company, valued at $151,697,700.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 390,072 shares of company stock worth $201,913,948 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.