Morton Capital Management LLC CA Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,347 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vista Investment Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $288,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $913,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 106,183 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,585,000 after purchasing an additional 13,396 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,873,728 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,017,185,000 after acquiring an additional 94,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gibson Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $987,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $608.58.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $588.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $534.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $504.36.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 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 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. 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 accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 266,412 shares of company stock worth $140,058,708 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.