Ellis Investment Partners LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,699 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $595,152,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,230 shares of company stock worth $132,784,843 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $593.28 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $296.86 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $553.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $511.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.63.

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.