Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Paulson Wealth Management Inc.

Paulson Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 964 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $595,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.0% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,411,009 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,656,318,000 after acquiring an additional 788,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $519.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. This trade represents a 2.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. This trade represents a 36.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.