Foundry Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Foundry Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 855 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 27,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,427,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Waterford Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Waterford Advisors LLC now owns 956 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashford Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $3,916,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $572.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $524.35. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on META. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 531,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,643,622.24. The trade was a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.