Lazari Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,270 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,799 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,270 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 8.5% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ META opened at $567.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $549.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $509.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total value of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,684,057.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,817 shares of company stock worth $132,547,715. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.