Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC Sells 61 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,147 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the first quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Edge Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $270,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after acquiring an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 234.1% during the first quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,723 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,236,000 after acquiring an additional 6,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $22,878,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $567.16 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $555.99 and its 200 day moving average is $513.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $308.33 and a 1 year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 251,092 shares of company stock valued at $132,865,496. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.