Bell Investment Advisors Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bell Investment Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 44.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 750 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 595 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on META. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $524.62 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $544.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $505.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $495.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.