Nexus Investment Management ULC Sells 1,282 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nexus Investment Management ULC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 91,938 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,282 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 5.2% of Nexus Investment Management ULC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Pivotal Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $613.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $576.79 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $544.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $507.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,911 shares of company stock valued at $131,887,905 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.