Shayne & Jacobs LLC Purchases Shares of 355 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Shayne & Jacobs LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 355 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the third quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $578.16 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $296.86 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $552.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $621.63.

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.