Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 1,018 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Essex Financial Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,563 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,018 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the third quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 23,404 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,398,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 8,553 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,038,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the third quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.4% in the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $593.28 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $296.86 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $553.36 and its 200-day moving average is $511.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. TD Securities upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $621.63.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 251,230 shares of company stock worth $132,784,843. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.