SOL Capital Management CO Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SOL Capital Management CO lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,184 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of SOL Capital Management CO’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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 valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade 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. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $573.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $551.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $510.76. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.