Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Coston McIsaac & Partners

Coston McIsaac & Partners grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,415 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during 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 grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $573.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $551.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $510.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock worth $132,547,715 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

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.