Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Has $43.03 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,190 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 889 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.4% of Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $43,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dockside LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $3,692,000. E6 Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $218,000. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Eaton Cambridge Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Eaton Cambridge Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Element Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Element Wealth LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:META opened at $566.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $621.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $635.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.