Estate Counselors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Estate Counselors LLC lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the quarter. Estate Counselors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.2% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 767,493 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $439,343,000 after purchasing an additional 83,423 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,419 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.8% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 21,999 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,316 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 559 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Draper Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $4,665,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This trade represents a 37.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,218 shares of company stock valued at $65,819,414. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $565.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $573.38 and a 200-day moving average of $525.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.