Gould Capital LLC Decreases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gould Capital LLC lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Gould Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Gould Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $613.57 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $319.99 and a fifty-two week high of $629.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $580.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $534.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $635.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total transaction of $14,268,740.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,201 shares of company stock worth $95,420,559. 13.71% of the stock is currently 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.