Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 142 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 142 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 60,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,803,000 after purchasing an additional 3,659 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 122,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $70,408,000 after buying an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 7,807 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,469,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 29,347 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,000 after acquiring an additional 3,575 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $568.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $521.17.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. This represents a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 141,498 shares of company stock worth $75,732,154 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.