Patron Partners LLC Sells 119 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Patron Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,286 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 119 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 22,196 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,876 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 4,437 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,540,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 have sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $519.97.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.