Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Chesapeake Wealth Management

Chesapeake Wealth Management cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,385 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Chesapeake Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vertex Planning Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 909 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.4% during the third quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,727 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,851,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Belmont Capital LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Belmont Capital LLC now owns 174,768 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $100,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.1% during the third quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 15,636 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,951,000 after purchasing an additional 3,434 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $563.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $523.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.