Scharf Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 3,382 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,382 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,949,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,406,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 124,312 shares of company stock valued at $83,503,034 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ META opened at $708.68 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $629.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $624.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $712.69.

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.