Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of 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 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total transaction of $214,995.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares in the company, valued at $6,863,715.45. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of META stock opened at $613.65 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $614.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $575.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $528.92. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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. 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 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.