Sapient Capital LLC Acquires 2,415 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sapient Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 143,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,415 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $146,000. CCM Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,131,000. Twin Focus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $286,000. Slagle Financial LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 2,008 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Finally, True Vision MN LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $496,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total transaction of $533,850.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $611.49.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

META opened at $591.74 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $538.12 and a 200-day moving average of $505.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.