Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 208 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,185,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $419,671,000 after purchasing an additional 19,355 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,701,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 19,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,003,000 after acquiring an additional 5,668 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,676,000. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,134,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $589.95 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $538.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $505.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 10.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at $20,172,468.33. This 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 through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.