Vontobel Holding Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 137,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 27,757 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $576.79 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $544.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $507.60.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $613.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,206,674. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,206,674. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,911 shares of company stock worth $131,887,905 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.