Mason & Associates Inc Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mason & Associates Inc boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,068 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $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. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price objective on the stock. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,684,057.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of META opened at $573.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $551.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $510.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.21%.

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.