Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Has $173.60 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,208 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 13,006 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.6% of Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $173,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 139,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,002 shares of company stock valued at $73,353,340 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Wedbush increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $712.69.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $712.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $625.25 and its 200 day moving average is $624.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

About Meta Platforms

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.