Cresta Advisors Ltd. Reduces Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cresta Advisors Ltd. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 6,428 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,241,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,321 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $666,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.6% in the second quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 137,014 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,085,000 after buying an additional 8,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. 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 on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $635.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total value of $214,995.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 13,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,863,715.45. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,201 shares of company stock worth $95,420,559 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $619.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $581.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $535.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $319.99 and a 1-year high of $629.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

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.