Second Half Financial Partners LLC Takes $702,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Second Half Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,227 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $274,643,622.24. The trade was a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $563.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $523.31. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

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.