Pictet North America Advisors SA Buys 12,895 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pictet North America Advisors SA raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 52.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,648 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 12,895 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.1% of Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. S.A. Mason LLC raised 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 valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during 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 during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ META traded down $3.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $528.00. 11,304,691 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,221,447. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $276.03 and a 52 week high of $544.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $502.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $491.15. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. 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) last posted 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $574.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.69, for a total transaction of $431,404.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,197,355.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,197,355.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 418,680 shares of company stock worth $211,992,147 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.