Moser Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Moser Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the third quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 964 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 18.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 97,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $56,017,000 after acquiring an additional 15,432 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11.9% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. First Heartland Consultants Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 3,641 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 3,921 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $554.08 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $568.11 and a 200-day moving average of $519.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,393,106.48. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.