Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Buys 406 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,196 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.4% of Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.9 %

META opened at $574.32 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $575.21 and a 200-day moving average of $527.37. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 106,239 shares of company stock worth $59,681,541. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.