Oak Thistle LLC Makes New $3.13 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 4,267 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,134,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Benchmark downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lowered Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $649.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $662.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $707.40. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,857,980.20. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,555 shares of company stock worth $26,144,862. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.