Haverford Trust Co Purchases 541 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Haverford Trust Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,183 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 421,381 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $241,215,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594 shares during the last quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the third quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 964 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 97,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $56,017,000 after purchasing an additional 15,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $568.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $519.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,298.16. The trade was a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.