Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 134,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 14,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.8% of Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $76,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 44,114 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559 shares during the period. WD Rutherford LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,591 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,504,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,017 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,589,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the third quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 5,971 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,418,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $567.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.03. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $308.33 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 36.26%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.47 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % 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, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,890,460.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.