Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.9% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $568.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $519.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS 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 given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.