Eagle Ridge Investment Management Sells 1,031 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,719 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,031 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 4.1% of Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $46,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock worth $132,547,715 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three 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, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $573.25 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $551.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $510.65.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.21%.

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.