Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Buys 1,940 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,940 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.5% of Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. MGB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.2% during the third quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Lane & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lane & Associates LLC now owns 484 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truepoint Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $565.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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 twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $573.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $525.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. The trade was a 2.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 531,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,643,622.24. This represents a 1.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,218 shares of company stock valued at $65,819,414 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.