L & S Advisors Inc Sells 1,620 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

L & S Advisors Inc cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,031 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,620 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of L & S Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 5,518 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. RW Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 146.3% during the 3rd quarter. DE Burlo Group Inc. now owns 36,700 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,009,000 after acquiring an additional 21,800 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 8.6% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 32,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $345,340.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,992 shares in the company, valued at $11,135,544. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $572.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $524.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 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.