III Capital Management Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

III Capital Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 71.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,724 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,550 shares during the quarter. III Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $594.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,022,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,804,930. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $575.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $528.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 transaction of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 105,334 shares of company stock valued at $59,210,941. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

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.