Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Has $73.73 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 128,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 17,296 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $73,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second 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 last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of META stock opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $571.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $523.03.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.