SlateStone Wealth LLC Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

SlateStone Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,487 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,381 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after buying an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of META stock opened at $661.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $674.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $705.81. 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 capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm 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 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. 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 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.