Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Purchases 70 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after buying an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,823,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,355,000. American Trust boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. American Trust now owns 3,179 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $599,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 106,239 shares of company stock worth $59,681,541. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $569.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $574.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $526.33. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.