Verity Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 354 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 354 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at $17,360,833.70. 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 is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 211,416 shares of company stock worth $112,638,243 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of META opened at $589.34 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $561.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $516.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. 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.