First Trust Advisors LP Has $1.54 Billion Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,090,124 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 57,560 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of First Trust Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,542,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.03, for a total value of $330,378.51. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,680.04. This represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,737,989.48. This trade represents a 1.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,923 shares of company stock worth $25,887,293. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $821.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $670.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $707.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.