Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,498,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $641,000. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,759,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,912 shares of company stock valued at $132,027,612 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $563.69 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $548.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $509.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Pivotal Research started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $619.20.

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.