Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,426 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 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 valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd 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. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was 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 the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $573.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $551.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $510.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.