NS Partners Ltd lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,204 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,622 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.0% of NS Partners Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. NS Partners Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $95,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
META has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $634.10.
View Our Latest Research Report on META
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total value of $4,117,971.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at $274,643,622.24. The trade was a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
NASDAQ META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $572.74 and a 200-day moving average of $523.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.
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.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.