GDS Wealth Management Acquires 1,803 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GDS Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $577.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $565.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $518.72.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total value of $8,906,174.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. This trade represents a 36.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.