Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Increased by Vance Wealth Inc.

Vance Wealth Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,414 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 541 shares during the quarter. Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after acquiring an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. now owns 223,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $108,296,000 after purchasing an additional 62,643 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Sarl increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 292,128 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $141,852,000 after buying an additional 15,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

META stock opened at $563.09 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $572.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $523.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.