Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by WP Advisors LLC

WP Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,764 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 7.2% of WP Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. WP Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in 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 worth $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $295,569.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $571.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $523.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 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 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.