D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $40.91 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 71,472 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,333 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $40,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $569.20 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $574.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $526.03.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,561 shares of company stock worth $62,445,464 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.