Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $38.41 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 52,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $38,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $644.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $665.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $706.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,067,594.40. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $669.63, for a total value of $346,198.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,082.13. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,578,191. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.46.

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.