BNP Paribas Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BNP Paribas increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 65,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of BNP Paribas’ holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,499 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 681 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 68,805 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,411,000 after buying an additional 5,307 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $569.20 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $574.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $526.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms 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 in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,135,440. The trade was a 2.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,561 shares of company stock valued at $62,445,464. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.