Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Optas LLC

Optas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,604 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,112 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Optas LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Optas LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after acquiring an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,158,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,093 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the first quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.1% during the first quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.43 on Wednesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $556.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $513.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 243,919 shares of company stock worth $129,296,067. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.