Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is First Trust Advisors LP’s 4th Largest Position

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,090,124 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 57,560 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.2% of First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.08% of Meta Platforms worth $1,542,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $2,990,544,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This trade represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock worth $25,887,293 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. KeyCorp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ META opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $670.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $707.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.