First Long Island Investors LLC Purchases 3,342 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Long Island Investors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,342 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of First Long Island Investors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. First Long Island Investors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total value of $8,906,174.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. The trade was a 36.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,593 shares of company stock worth $75,253,970 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $554.40 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $569.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $521.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

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.