CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Buys 1,479 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,988 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,479 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.8% of CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 84,239 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $48,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,791 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 70,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montis Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 934 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

META stock opened at $589.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day moving average is $538.12 and its 200 day moving average is $505.59.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,068,669.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock valued at $133,105,284 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.