Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,119 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,748 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $595,152,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $515,383,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,238,845.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,068,669.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total transaction of $859,886.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at $65,238,845.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $608.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $583.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $536.08 and a 200 day moving average of $504.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business 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 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.21%.

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.