Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Covington Investment Advisors Inc.

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,761 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,758,146,000 after purchasing an additional 289,207 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8 %

META opened at $569.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $574.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $526.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,561 shares of company stock valued at $62,445,464. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.