Payden & Rygel raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,030 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,620 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.8% of Payden & Rygel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,957,946,000 after purchasing an additional 7,732,446 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,948,486,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,841,811,000 after buying an additional 3,510,123 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,038,035 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,036,491,000 after buying an additional 2,673,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Meta Platforms by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 11,858,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,784,873,000 after buying an additional 1,815,017 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.4%
Meta Platforms stock opened at $630.00 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $779.82. The company has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $673.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $632.21.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.54 by $0.86. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The company had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.01 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a dividend of $0.5250 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.16%.
Key Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Meta acquired Conductor, a startup whose AI agents can work in parallel to build software projects. The deal adds AI coding capabilities, though financial terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch: Meta acquires AI coding startup Conductor
- Positive Sentiment: Investor demand for Meta’s bond offerings was strong: reports said orders for its U.S. sale reached about $58 billion. That suggests investors are willing to finance the company’s AI expansion. Reuters: Meta draws record orders for debut euro bond sale
- Positive Sentiment: Arista Networks said Meta remains one of its customers accounting for more than 10% of revenue, highlighting Meta’s role in demand for AI data-center infrastructure. Arista Networks Cashes In on the AI Infrastructure Build
- Neutral Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan reported stock sales under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The planned nature of the transactions makes them less informative as a signal about management’s near-term outlook. SEC insider ownership filing
- Negative Sentiment: Meta is raising billions through U.S. and euro bond sales to fund AI infrastructure and expansion. One report said the company agreed to pay 7.5% on 30-year debt, pointing to a substantial financing cost as investment spending grows. Meta Just Paid 7.5% to Borrow for 30 Years
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $763.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (down from $850.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $833.12.
View Our Latest Analysis on META
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,024. The trade was a 90.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. This trade represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 151,090 shares of company stock worth $103,150,807. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.
Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.
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