Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Lifted by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,011 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 7,589 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of Vestcor Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $38,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total transaction of $214,995.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,863,715.45. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 164,201 shares of company stock worth $95,420,559. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

META opened at $613.57 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $319.99 and a 12 month high of $629.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $580.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $534.10. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. 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.