BLB&B Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 536 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7 %

META opened at $567.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $549.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $509.99. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $619.20.

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.