Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 845 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 91,703 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,494,000 after acquiring an additional 36,973 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 80,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,091,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 119,583 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $68,454,000 after buying an additional 7,628 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 5,655 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,237,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BluePointe Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC now owns 2,670 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total value of $469,740.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,568,394.35. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,593 shares of company stock worth $75,253,970 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $554.40 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $569.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $521.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.