Intellectus Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Intellectus Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,870 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.6% of Intellectus Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Intellectus Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $32,629,000 after acquiring an additional 12,301 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 20,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,722,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,456,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total value of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,532 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,298.16. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 141,498 shares of company stock valued at $75,732,154 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $554.08 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.17. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms 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.