Semus Wealth Partners LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,851 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Semus Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Semus Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,038,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $345,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,135,544. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $571.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $523.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.