Americana Partners LLC Purchases 2,706 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Americana Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,164 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,706 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.1% of Americana Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $560.68 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $556.78 and a 200-day moving average of $513.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,890,460.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total transaction of $481,650.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,053,185.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,040 shares of company stock worth $132,361,588 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.