American Trust Has $3.97 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

American Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 112.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 214,002 shares of company stock valued at $126,740,653 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $635.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $630.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $328.64 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $583.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.