Meritage Portfolio Management Acquires 85 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,767 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $580.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.29 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $564.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $518.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total transaction of $481,650.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,053,185.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total value of $481,650.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,053,185.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 175,807 shares of company stock valued at $93,851,617. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.