Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 58.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 538 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 747 shares during the quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $308,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Forbes J M & Co. LLP grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the third quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP now owns 11,231 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,429,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the third quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 5,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,239,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Vanderbilt University lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.7% in the third quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 10,329 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 14,411 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,818 shares of company stock worth $132,569,993. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of META stock opened at $591.80 on Thursday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $554.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $512.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $296.86 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 currently 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

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.