MSA Advisors LLC Has $15.07 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MSA Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 130.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,324 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,924 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.9% of MSA Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. MSA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $573.54 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $573.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $525.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company 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%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given 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 was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $269,449,230. The trade was a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,656 shares of company stock worth $61,933,867. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

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.