Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 9,669 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 174,820 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 9,669 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.8% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $100,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $572.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $523.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 dividend 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.