Mengis Capital Management Inc. Sells 40 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mengis Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $568.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $520.60.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.