Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,010 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $82,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $595,152,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. 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 6,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $567.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $308.33 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business 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, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms 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.