ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,664 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 768 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.6%

META stock opened at $663.29 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $654.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $706.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total transaction of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.38, for a total transaction of $342,218.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,238,730.26. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,557 shares of company stock worth $25,972,459 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,117.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $820.22.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.