Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $569.20 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $574.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $526.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $470,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,722 shares in the company, valued at $20,135,440. This trade represents a 2.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,239 shares of company stock valued at $59,681,541 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.