Verus Capital Partners LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in 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 last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,298.16. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $519.97. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.