2,970 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Samalin Investment Counsel LLC

Samalin Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 54.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,455 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,970 shares during the quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,957,946,000 after purchasing an additional 7,732,446 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $2,948,486,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,841,811,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510,123 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,038,035 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,036,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,673,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 11,858,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,784,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,017 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $7,260,343.46. This trade represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.76, for a total value of $28,510,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 184,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $131,515,624.16. This represents a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,015 shares of company stock worth $102,464,300 over the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta settled a teen lawsuit alleging that Instagram and Facebook contributed to addiction, depression and eating disorders. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the agreement removes Meta from an upcoming Los Angeles trial and reduces near-term litigation uncertainty. Reuters settlement report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising fundamentals remain strong: recent coverage cited higher ad pricing, rising impressions, improved AI-driven ad conversions and strong engagement. Analysts also see meaningful upside, with one fair-value estimate raised from $813.65 to $848.38 per share. Meta fair value report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta expanded its relationship with Advanced Micro Devices, including a $1 billion equity investment and multi-generation chip co-design for Meta’s AI data centers. The deal may improve access to computing capacity and supplier diversification. AMD and Meta partnership report

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $955.00 to $855.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $833.12.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of META opened at $614.99 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $670.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $632.26. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $779.82.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.25 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.01 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were issued a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.16%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.