Carret Asset Management LLC Acquires 547 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,404 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.5% of Carret Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $595,152,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $593.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $553.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $511.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $296.86 and a 52 week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,230 shares of company stock valued at $132,784,843 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.