Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,239 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,027,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.9% during the first quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.6% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 134,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,189,000 after buying an additional 19,100 shares during the last quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the first quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 18.6% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 18,006 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,743,000 after buying an additional 2,824 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on META. Loop Capital increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.63.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $578.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $552.03 and a 200-day moving average of $511.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $296.86 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

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.