Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Victory Capital Management Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,282,427 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 62,441 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,306,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. This trade represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,393,106.48. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $568.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $519.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.