The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,675,733 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,719 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $959,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Square LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 15.5% during the third quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 550 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Bowie Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 167,747 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $96,025,000 after buying an additional 16,727 shares in the last quarter. Wiser Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wiser Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Associated Banc Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 79,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,694,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at $269,449,230. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,656 shares of company stock valued at $61,933,867 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $573.54 on Wednesday. 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 $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 1.23 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $573.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $525.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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 the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 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.