Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by SlateStone Wealth LLC

SlateStone Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,487 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,381 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Infusive Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,614,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the second quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $155,387,000 after acquiring an additional 20,912 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.6% in the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 84,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $62,507,000 after buying an additional 4,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the second quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,535,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $661.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $674.56 and its 200-day moving average is $705.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

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.