LJI Wealth Management LLC Buys 122 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LJI Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,613 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.5% of LJI Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. LJI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total value of $8,876,444.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,050,140.64. This trade represents a 59.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,593 shares of company stock valued at $75,253,970. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $554.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $569.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $521.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Company 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.