Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Chartwell Investment Partners LLC

Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,772 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $577.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $565.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $518.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.