Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 161,330 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,272 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $92,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.2% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Hartline Investment Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 28,237 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,164,000 after buying an additional 3,610 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 830 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Simmons Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 30,771 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $17,615,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.3% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 18,662 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $520.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. TD Cowen upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.