Metis Global Partners LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 122,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.2% of Metis Global Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $70,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $568.11 and a 200-day moving average of $521.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 141,498 shares of company stock worth $75,732,154. 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.