Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Caxton Associates LLP

Caxton Associates LLP raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 159.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,238 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 52,954 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Caxton Associates LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $63,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Castleark Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 152,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $112,732,000 after acquiring an additional 9,689 shares in the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 3,729 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,752,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,183,000. Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 486 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,368,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $669.63, for a total value of $346,198.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,751 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,082.13. This trade represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at $20,067,594.40. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,578,191 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $644.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $665.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $707.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

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 predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.46.

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.