Ascent Group LLC Has $19.13 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,412 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Ascent Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,723 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 27,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,565,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,732.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,697 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,586,000 after purchasing an additional 43,772 shares in the last quarter. Atom Investors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 25.9% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 5,262 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Finally, Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 104,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,980,000 after buying an additional 8,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $574.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $575.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $527.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $215,586.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 13,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,098,156. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.