Financial Counselors Inc. Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,827 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,239 shares of company stock worth $59,681,541 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $569.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $574.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $526.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.71.

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.