Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,184 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in 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. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $780.00 target price on the stock. TD Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wolfe Research began 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, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.08.

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, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total transaction of $8,916,696.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,918 shares in the company, valued at $81,104,462.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total transaction of $8,916,696.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 151,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,104,462.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $578.55, for a total value of $523,587.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,308,262.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 300,228 shares of company stock valued at $158,005,260 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $582.77 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $524.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $501.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $583.36.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.