Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 55.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,380 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,020 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 3.4% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $235,872,000 after acquiring an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of META traded down $23.08 on Friday, hitting $554.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,712,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,132,762. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $568.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $520.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.