Brickley Wealth Management Sells 21 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Brickley Wealth Management lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,245 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.1% of Brickley Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Brickley Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $32,629,000 after buying an additional 12,301 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 381,805 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $185,397,000 after buying an additional 19,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 5,418 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,631,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $580.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $564.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $518.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,807 shares of company stock worth $93,851,617 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.