The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 15,719 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,675,733 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,719 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.8% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $959,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were 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 owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,656 shares of company stock valued at $61,933,867. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $573.54 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $313.66 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $573.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $525.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer increased 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. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

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.