Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,537 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $554.08 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 moving average price is $568.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $521.17. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

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 the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,377,575.12. This trade represents a 36.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 141,498 shares of company stock valued at $75,732,154. Company 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.