Heritage Investment Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Heritage Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Heritage Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew 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 valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,593 shares of company stock valued at $75,253,970. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $554.40 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $313.66 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $569.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $521.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.