Saturna Capital Corp Has $2.17 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Saturna Capital Corp trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,794 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,017 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Bayban raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Susquehanna upgraded Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $595.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $604.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $625.53.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given 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 was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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 Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 36,393 shares of company stock worth $22,141,163 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.