Brighton Jones LLC Has $13.99 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 27.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 39,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,537 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after buying an additional 946,871 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,945,799,000 after acquiring an additional 111,735 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $2.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $430.17. 18,396,504 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,427,248. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $493.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $406.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on META shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock valued at $620,451,095. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.