Strategy Asset Managers LLC Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Strategy Asset Managers LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,575 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,221 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.8% of Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $595,152,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $369,774,000 after purchasing an additional 661,923 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $285,690,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 56,892.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 564,221 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,845,000 after buying an additional 563,231 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, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total transaction of $8,693,056.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,657 shares in the company, valued at $1,382,915.36. This trade represents a 86.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the 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 have sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $572.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $523.96.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.