Asset Dedication LLC Has $8.37 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Asset Dedication LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,619 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,308 shares during the quarter. Asset Dedication LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total value of $241,534.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,744,844.39. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total transaction of $241,534.79. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,744,844.39. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,239 shares of company stock valued at $132,033,148. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $613.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $9.18 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $577.09. 8,162,147 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,261,430. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $542.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $507.12. 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 capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

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.