LifeSteps Financial Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LifeSteps Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 930 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $617.37.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,206,674. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares in the company, valued at $17,206,674. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 250,816 shares of company stock valued at $132,421,828. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $576.93 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $545.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $508.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.