Prudent Man Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 313 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after acquiring an additional 208,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,504,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,723,493,000 after purchasing an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $571.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $523.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,958 shares of company stock worth $101,181,747 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.