Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,438 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.6% of Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,343,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second 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. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $567.16 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $308.33 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $555.99 and a 200-day moving average of $513.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,092 shares of company stock worth $132,865,496. 13.71% of the stock is 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.