Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,078 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $573.25 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $551.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $510.72. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 10.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.