Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Raised by Ayrshire Capital Management LLC

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 64.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,435 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 4,105 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.6% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were 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 owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 41,038 shares of company stock valued at $25,533,240 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,117.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.22.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $658.79 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $645.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $704.88.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.