Wharton Business Group LLC Sells 63 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wharton Business Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $565.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $571.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $523.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Tigress Financial lifted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The trade was a 2.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.