GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 566 shares during the period. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $573.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $551.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $510.72.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 10.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at $2,684,057.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 250,817 shares of company stock valued at $132,547,715. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.63.

About Meta Platforms

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.