Lynx Investment Advisory Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lynx Investment Advisory boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $895,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during 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. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,038,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $577.16 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $565.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $518.72. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,298.16. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total value of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares in the company, valued at $24,393,106.48. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.