Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Vantage Investment Partners LLC

Vantage Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,719 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 54 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.3% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $577.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $565.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $518.72.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. This represents a 36.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 over 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.