Chesley Taft & Associates LLC buys 583 shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,810 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 583 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 21.9% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 721,832 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $363,962,000 after buying an additional 129,677 shares in the last quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.3% in the second quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc now owns 2,142 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Williams Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,650,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $1,392,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforme by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying another 351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s shares.

The Wall Street analyst weighs in

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st . Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41, according to MarketBeat .

Read our latest report on META

Insider buying and selling on meta platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available on the SEC’s website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.69, for a total transaction of $431,404.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,197,355.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 384,783 shares of company stock worth $194,001,589 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s shares.

Performance of meta platform stocks

Shares of META opened at $529.28 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $276.03 and a 12-month high of $542.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $501.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $489.45.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social media company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted earnings per share of $3.23. As a group, equities analysts estimate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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