Taurus Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Taurus Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,950 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Natixis grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 126.0% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 455,820 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $221,337,000 after acquiring an additional 254,166 shares during the period. Leelyn Smith LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $270,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $3,143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This represents a 0.09 % 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,958 shares of company stock worth $101,181,747 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $565.52 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $571.30 and its 200 day moving average is $523.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Meta Platforms 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.