Chartwell Investment Partners LLC Acquires 2,772 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 62,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,772 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.2% of Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $32,629,000 after acquiring an additional 12,301 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% during 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. Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the first quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 1,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $577.16 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $565.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $518.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.