Alerus Financial NA Has $16.26 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alerus Financial NA cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,401 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,950 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Alerus Financial NA’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total value of $214,995.41. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,863,715.45. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,135,440. This represents a 2.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $574.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 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 2.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $575.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $527.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.