LifeSteps Financial Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LifeSteps Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 930 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,206,674. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,130 shares in the company, valued at $17,206,674. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,816 shares of company stock valued at $132,421,828 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.37.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $576.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $545.36 and a 200-day moving average of $508.09.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.