Morse Asset Management Inc Has $15.53 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Morse Asset Management Inc decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,807 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 726 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.8% of Morse Asset Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $660.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $563.33 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $573.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $510.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $498.05. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. 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 posted 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 analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $231,280.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,152,320. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $231,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,152,320. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 349,472 shares of company stock valued at $182,544,600 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.