Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. Acquires 66 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 691 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $595,152,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $515,383,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,035 shares in the company, valued at $18,068,669.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,068,669.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at $65,238,845.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock valued at $133,105,284 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $589.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $538.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $505.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.71.

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.