Manchester Financial Inc. Sells 189 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Manchester Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,643 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Manchester Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after acquiring an additional 342,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $296.86 and a one year high of $602.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $553.36 and its 200 day moving average is $511.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,230 shares of company stock worth $132,784,843 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.