Principal Securities Inc. Has $25.34 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Principal Securities Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,438 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.6% of Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $25,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,092 shares of company stock worth $132,865,496 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

META opened at $567.16 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $308.33 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $555.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $513.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.