Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 5,594 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $235,872,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,158,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.4% in the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,093 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the first quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.1% in the first quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.43 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $556.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $513.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 243,919 shares of company stock valued at $129,296,067 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

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.