Optivise Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Optivise Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during 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. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $595,152,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $369,774,000 after acquiring an additional 661,923 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $285,690,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of META stock opened at $559.14 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $572.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $524.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 152,141 shares of company stock worth $83,390,497. 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.