Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Boosted by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,150,374 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 338,263 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.6% of Baillie Gifford & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,520,720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. 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. Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average is $519.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total value of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 46,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,393,106.48. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’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 value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.