Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Financial Advocates Investment Management

Financial Advocates Investment Management trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,042 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,268 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.4%

META opened at $661.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $674.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $705.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $819.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.