Blue Whale Capital LLP Has $78.50 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blue Whale Capital LLP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,129 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 33,529 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 6.1% of Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $573.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The stock's 50-day moving average is $573.38 and its 200 day moving average is $525.35. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,656 shares of company stock worth $61,933,867 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.