South Street Advisors LLC Purchases 8,947 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

South Street Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 117.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,597 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 8,947 shares during the period. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $0.94 on Friday, reaching $476.79. 15,149,416 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,694,282. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $493.41 and its 200-day moving average is $471.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 311,106 shares of company stock worth $154,542,945. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.10.

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.