Capital Investment Counsel Inc Sells 430 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 430 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.9% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd 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. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

META stock opened at $573.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $551.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $510.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 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. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 250,817 shares of company stock worth $132,547,715. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.