Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC Sells 16,138 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 41.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 16,138 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.6% of Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $820.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.38, for a total transaction of $342,218.22. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,177 shares in the company, valued at $19,238,730.26. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $661.11, for a total transaction of $341,793.87. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,407,335.87. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,359,548 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $663.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $654.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $706.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.