Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,169 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.4% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $117,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,478,698 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $664.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $660.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $707.10. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

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.