Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Has $20.45 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,726 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,523 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.0% of Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first 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 in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. 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 250,040 shares of company stock worth $132,361,588 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $560.68 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $556.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $513.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.