Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,617 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after acquiring an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $593.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 1st. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price target (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $195,642.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,971 shares in the company, valued at $2,835,389.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $195,642.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,971 shares in the company, valued at $2,835,389.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 311,518 shares of company stock worth $154,738,587 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $10.61 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $487.40. The company had a trading volume of 12,011,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,234,402. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $493.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $473.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $542.81.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.