Dakota Wealth Management Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dakota Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 100,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Dakota Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $57,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC now owns 68,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,328,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,529 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Global Trust Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 232.5% during the 3rd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Finally, Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 1,811 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This represents 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 this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $573.25 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $551.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.65.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.21%.

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.