LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $16.77 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 165.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,268 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,740 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.0% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the second quarter. Lane & Associates LLC now owns 447 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation grew its position in Meta Platforms by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 141,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $71,438,000 after acquiring an additional 44,315 shares during the last quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 169.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC now owns 773,655 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $390,092,000 after acquiring an additional 486,023 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 822,126 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $414,533,000 after purchasing an additional 49,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1,339.2% in the second quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 60,693 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $30,603,000 after purchasing an additional 56,476 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $577.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total value of $449,775.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $524.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $505.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $495.37. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.