Sargent Investment Group LLC Acquires 139 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.08 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $568.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $521.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. 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 results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was 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 $21,416,298.16. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 141,498 shares of company stock valued at $75,732,154 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.