Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 162 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,373 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.3% of Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $554.08 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average is $521.17.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 141,498 shares of company stock worth $75,732,154. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.