Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Purchases 7,287 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,748 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,287 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.7% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $595.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $604.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $625.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.