Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 736 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,135,440. This represents a 2.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $574.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 1.27 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $575.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $527.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

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.