Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 652,832 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 84.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,066 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 652,832 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $88,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $54,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $823.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,759,811 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $647.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $683.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $705.88. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Meta Platforms 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.