Banco Santander S.A. Has $90.86 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Banco Santander S.A. decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,720 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 23,322 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $90,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 5,518 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. RW Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,216,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 146.3% during the 3rd quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. now owns 36,700 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $21,009,000 after buying an additional 21,800 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 32,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,640,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $572.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $524.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total transaction of $8,693,056.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,382,915.36. This trade represents a 86.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.