WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC Purchases 140 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,517 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 195.9% during the third quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 1,284 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $735,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,688,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $282,000. LJI Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,613 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 692 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $561.09 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $570.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $522.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.