Portolan Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Portolan Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,980 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,681 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. now owns 12,950 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,413,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Miura Global Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 175.0% in the 3rd quarter. Miura Global Management LLC now owns 22,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,594,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,681 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $30,229,000 after buying an additional 17,849 shares in the last quarter. III Capital Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 71.3% in the 3rd quarter. III Capital Management now owns 3,724 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Family Office LLC now owns 763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.5 %

META opened at $613.65 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $614.20. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $575.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $528.92.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy 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 $634.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 105,334 shares of company stock worth $59,210,941 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.