Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,432 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.8% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $56,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 3,641 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 3,921 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 73,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $42,218,000 after buying an additional 8,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 68.3% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 7,245 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,148,000 after buying an additional 2,939 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 46,292 shares in the company, valued at $24,393,106.48. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $568.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $519.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.