Forte Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Forte Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 600 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Forte Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,587,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 234.1% in the 1st quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,723 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 6,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $22,878,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $567.16 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $308.33 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors 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 was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,092 shares of company stock valued at $132,865,496 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.