Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Sells 380 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 380 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.6% of Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.6% during the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 3,718 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,805,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 62,486 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $30,342,000 after buying an additional 15,949 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 43.6% in the first quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 2,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after buying an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iams Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 135.9% in the first quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,062 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $591.80 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $296.86 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $554.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $512.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 250,818 shares of company stock valued at $132,569,993 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.