Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,093 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,573 shares of company stock valued at $133,019,910 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $567.58 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $296.86 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $555.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $512.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given 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 payout ratio is 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective 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, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.37.

Meta Platforms Company 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.