Midwestern Financial LLC IA Buys Shares of 3,272 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Midwestern Financial LLC IA purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.3% of Midwestern Financial LLC IA’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at $4,476,894.45. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $1,590,690.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $5,962,956.64. The trade was a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 40,458 shares of company stock valued at $25,436,200 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $647.51 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $664.55 and a 200-day moving average of $707.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

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.