Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 7,492 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 112,351 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 7,492 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $82,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. 1776 Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 221,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $127,773,000 after buying an additional 2,226 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 58,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,912,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:META opened at $751.44 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $741.78 and a 200 day moving average of $694.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,820,861.75. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,208,279 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Zacks Research raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $829.66.

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.