Covenant Asset Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Covenant Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,147 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Covenant Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 152,141 shares of company stock worth $83,390,497 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $572.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $524.71.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.