Banco Santander S.A. Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 16,505 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.9% of Banco Santander S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $204,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $656.00, for a total value of $339,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,881,296. This represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total transaction of $325,932.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,104,836. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,798 shares of company stock worth $58,347,026. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of META stock opened at $618.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $728.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $700.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.28%.

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.