Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC Makes New $236,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 412 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $635.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $619.32 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $319.99 and a 1 year high of $629.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $581.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $535.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total transaction of $14,268,740.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total value of $486,636.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,912 shares in the company, valued at $19,848,320.64. This trade represents a 2.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,201 shares of company stock valued at $95,420,559 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.