Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 1,606 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.7% of Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of META stock opened at $577.16 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $565.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $518.72. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total value of $4,117,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,643,622.24. This represents a 1.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value 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 approximately $21,416,298.16. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.