Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 55.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,380 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,020 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.4% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $520.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.