Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Increased by NCP Inc.

NCP Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 123,428 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,380 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 40.3% of NCP Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. NCP Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $70,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at $269,449,230. The trade was a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,561 shares of company stock worth $62,445,464 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $569.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $574.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $526.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

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.