SouthState Corp Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SouthState Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. S.A. Mason LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $660.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $500.27 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $505.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $494.46. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at $20,280,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at $20,280,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total transaction of $503,908.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,954,472. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 390,977 shares of company stock worth $202,384,548. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.