Trek Financial LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Trek Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,882 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Trek Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $670.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $707.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $25,887,293. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.