Lountzis Asset Management LLC Sells 309 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lountzis Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 992 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 309 shares during the period. Lountzis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $577.16 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $565.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $518.72. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.