Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Has $2.10 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $576.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $546.53 and a 200-day moving average of $508.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.37.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,816 shares of company stock valued at $132,421,828. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.