Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Lifted by Blue Whale Capital LLP

Blue Whale Capital LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 137,129 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 33,529 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 6.1% of Blue Whale Capital LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Blue Whale Capital LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 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 valued at $1,862,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Montchanin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $498,000. Untitled Investments LP increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 45.6% in the 1st quarter. Untitled Investments LP now owns 34,158 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,586,000 after buying an additional 10,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 45,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,208,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $269,449,230. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,656 shares of company stock valued at $61,933,867 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of META opened at $573.54 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $573.38 and a 200 day moving average of $525.35. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.