Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 124,884 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 33,659 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.9% of Townsquare Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $71,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NCP Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.2% during the third quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 123,428 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $70,655,000 after purchasing an additional 9,380 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Cadence Bank increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,549 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,604,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 1,778 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shum Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $207,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $569.20 on Thursday. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $574.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $526.03.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was 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 represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,135,440. This trade represents a 2.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 111,561 shares of company stock worth $62,445,464. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.