Midwestern Financial LLC IA Purchases Shares of 3,272 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Midwestern Financial LLC IA acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,415,000. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of Midwestern Financial LLC IA’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the first quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the first quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 2,508 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Benchmark cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $647.51 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $664.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $707.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 40,458 shares of company stock worth $25,436,200 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.