Noesis Capital Mangement Corp Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 56.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 680 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $569.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $574.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $526.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. 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 announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion during 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 forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. This represents a 2.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.