Hartline Investment Corp Buys 3,610 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hartline Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,237 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,610 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Hartline Investment Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Hartline Investment Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The trade was a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $568.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $520.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.