Foundry Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Foundry Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 855 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,504,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,723,493,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,150,374 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,520,720,000 after buying an additional 338,263 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $559.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $524.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total value of $469,740.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,568,394.35. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. This trade 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 valued at $92,083,554 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.