Capasso Planning Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capasso Planning Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 806 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 599 shares during the quarter. Capasso Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Trust boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 112.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 6,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,967,000 after buying an additional 3,663 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $13,972,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 72,243 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,356,000 after buying an additional 7,053 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $231,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,772 shares in the company, valued at $7,152,320. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,002 shares of company stock worth $126,740,653 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $630.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $328.64 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $583.48 and a 200 day moving average of $536.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Susquehanna increased 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. Mizuho upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $635.20.

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.