United Services Automobile Association Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

United Services Automobile Association decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 50,843 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 11,517 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of United Services Automobile Association’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $240,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $3,148,000. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 2,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Sitrin Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1,058.8% in the second quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 9,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,967,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Finally, Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 48.5% during the second quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 784 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 142,160 shares of company stock worth $81,611,223. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.4 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $623.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $578.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $531.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $317.77 and a 52 week high of $629.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (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 net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

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.