Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 61,707 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,590 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $45,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $54,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $661.53 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $674.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $705.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

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.