Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 8,006 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 115,261 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,006 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $65,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $660.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,238,845.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total transaction of $533,850.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,238,845.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,443 shares of company stock valued at $133,105,284 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $6.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $589.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,587,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,361,877. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $538.12 and its 200-day moving average is $505.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.