Edgestream Partners L.P. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 313.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,483 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.7% of Edgestream Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 3,279 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.1% during the third quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57.0% during the third quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. now owns 1,190,381 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $681,422,000 after buying an additional 431,996 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $2,419,000. Finally, JAT Capital Mgmt LP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $17,552,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,239 shares of company stock worth $59,681,541 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

META stock opened at $574.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $575.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $527.37. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend 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.