United Asset Strategies Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,028 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.6% of United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd 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. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,639,184.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,092 shares of company stock valued at $132,865,496 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $567.16 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $308.33 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $555.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $513.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given 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 yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.