Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,526,570 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,587 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Baird Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Meta Platforms worth $1,126,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $821.63.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 40,923 shares of company stock worth $25,887,293 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $670.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $707.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.03 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.28%.

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.