Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 247 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the second quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Merrion Investment Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the third quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $655,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on META. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $613.46.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of META traded down $4.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $586.35. The stock had a trading volume of 6,009,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,279,240. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $540.41 and its 200 day moving average is $506.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 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 business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,826 shares of company stock worth $131,791,613 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.