Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,034 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,681 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $2,990,544,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,734 shares in the company, valued at $19,737,989.48. This represents a 1.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $25,887,293. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,117.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research set a $718.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $666.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $671.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $707.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.