Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Buys 2,572 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after buying an additional 208,677 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,504,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,723,493,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,150,374 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,520,720,000 after acquiring an additional 338,263 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total value of $8,693,056.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,382,915.36. The trade was a 86.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $345,340.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,135,544. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $572.74 and a 200 day moving average of $524.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business 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 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on META. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.