Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 32,683 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,073 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 32,683 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $133,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted 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 valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total value of $8,693,056.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,382,915.36. This trade represents a 86.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock valued at $92,083,554 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $572.74 and its 200 day moving average is $524.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

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.