Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Has $7.15 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,490 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 966 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.4% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 175,807 shares of company stock valued at $93,851,617. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $580.00 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $564.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $518.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.