Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC Buys 286 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,006 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 9,846 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,485,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,895,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 94,051 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,290,000 after purchasing an additional 10,495 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $288,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $601.08.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.81, for a total value of $218,693.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,388,160.23. 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. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.81, for a total value of $218,693.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,388,160.23. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 266,332 shares of company stock worth $139,981,833 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

META traded down $5.59 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $587.30. The stock had a trading volume of 3,345,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,396,810. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $532.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $503.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.