Wendell David Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 323 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Wendell David Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 323 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,111,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470,070 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $571,086,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $751.44 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $741.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $694.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $897.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $829.66.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 213,146 shares of company stock worth $164,208,279. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.