Stanley Laman Group Ltd. buys 352 shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

VaselineAugust 18, 2024

0 5 minutes read

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 26.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners grew its position in Meta Platforme by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 467 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd, in its capacity as administrator of Building and Construction Union Retirement Fund, lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. United Super Pty Ltd, in its capacity as administrator of The Building and Construction Union Retirement Fund, now owns 223,612 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,150,000 after buying an additional 56,515 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforme by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 77,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,395,000 after buying an additional 11,443 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of shares are currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts set new price targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

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Performance of meta platform stocks

NASDAQ META opened at $527.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $500.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $487.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social media company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. In the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 per share. The company’s revenue increased by 22.1% year-over-year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Indoor activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC’s website. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 349,174 shares of company stock worth $175,146,777 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of shares are currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

(Free Report)

Meta Platforms, Inc is committed to developing products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets and wearables around the world. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which allows people to share, chat, discover and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos and private messages, as well as feeds, stories, movies, videos, live and shops; Messenger, a messaging app for people to connect with friends, family, communities and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging app that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.