Bouvel Investment Partners LLC Acquires 40 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bouvel Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,489 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.0% of Bouvel Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. ROI Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $311,000. Regal Partners Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 73,576 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $42,118,000 after acquiring an additional 9,011 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 13,058 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,475,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 51,696 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $29,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.3% during the third quarter. Bell Bank now owns 17,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,978,000 after purchasing an additional 5,183 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $568.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $520.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 46,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,393,106.48. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.