Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Has $6.21 Billion Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 73,443.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 4.2% of Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC owned about 0.34% of Meta Platforms worth $6,212,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Myecfo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at $53,857,980.20. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 41,440 shares of company stock worth $26,337,795 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Benchmark downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $823.93.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

META opened at $639.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $676.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $706.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

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.