Oakworth Capital Inc. Acquires 192 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 752 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $563.69 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $548.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $509.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,684,057.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 249,912 shares of company stock worth $132,027,612. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $619.20.

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.