Hardin Capital Partners LLC Makes New $221,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hardin Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 372 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lane & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $200,000. First PREMIER Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.6% in the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 5,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 456.7% during the first quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 6,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 5,562 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 413.4% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,865,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,911 shares of company stock worth $131,978,559 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $575.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $547.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $509.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.37.

About Meta Platforms

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.