Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,557 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 25,879 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,795,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,499 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 681 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 68,805 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,411,000 after buying an additional 5,307 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,561 shares of company stock worth $62,445,464 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8 %

META opened at $569.20 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $574.12 and its 200-day moving average is $526.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

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.