Unigestion Holding SA Sells 5,009 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Unigestion Holding SA decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 44.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,009 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.32 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $581.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $535.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $319.99 and a 12 month high of $629.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total transaction of $214,995.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,863,715.45. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 164,201 shares of company stock valued at $95,420,559. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $635.20.

Meta Platforms Company 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.