Essential Planning LLC. Takes $251,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 439 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $571.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $523.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. This represents a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

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.