Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 499 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BCGM Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $560.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $556.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 250,040 shares of company stock valued at $132,361,588. Corporate 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.