Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,466 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the first quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

META opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $670.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $707.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock worth $25,887,293. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.