Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 924 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.9% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $519.97. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last three months. 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.