Cynosure Group LLC Sells 2,025 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cynosure Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,025 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,319,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $269,449,230. This trade represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,561 shares of company stock valued at $62,445,464. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on META. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $569.20 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $574.12 and its 200 day moving average is $526.03. The company has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.