HCR Wealth Advisors Purchases 111 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HCR Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,132 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.3% of HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $525.60 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $505.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $495.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.