Hobart Private Capital LLC Buys 770 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Hobart Private Capital LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,744 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the period. Hobart Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Rydar Equities Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,044,000. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $357,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 103.5% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,998,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,166,000 after buying an additional 1,016,667 shares during the period. TradeWell Securities LLC. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. now owns 14,912 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,007,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the period. Finally, CacheTech Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the second quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 1,923 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $657.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $663.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $707.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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 anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at $20,067,594.40. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,458 shares of company stock worth $25,436,200. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.