GDS Wealth Management Acquires 1,803 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GDS Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $577.16 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $565.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $518.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.