EP Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 22,227 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,006 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,227 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.0% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $114,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $595,152,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $369,774,000 after acquiring an additional 661,923 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 56,892.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 564,221 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,845,000 after acquiring an additional 563,231 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $623.77 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $578.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $531.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $317.77 and a 52 week high of $629.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 142,160 shares of company stock worth $81,611,223. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.