AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,970 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 524 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 5.6% of AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 3,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,887,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Gruss & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Gruss & Co. LLC now owns 4,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,269,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 718 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,614,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $524.62 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $495.51.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,744,534.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock worth $185,587,773. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

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.