King Luther Capital Management Corp Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,883 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $67,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after acquiring an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $572.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $523.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total transaction of $469,740.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,568,394.35. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company 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.