Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,356,667 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 94,181 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.9% of Fisher Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Meta Platforms worth $4,691,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:META opened at $666.80 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $671.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $707.23. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total transaction of $333,312.18. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,734 shares in the company, valued at $19,737,989.48. The trade was a 1.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock worth $25,887,293. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 1st. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.43.

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.