Schear Investment Advisers LLC Purchases 912 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,524 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 912 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.7% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total value of $8,876,444.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,384 shares in the company, valued at $6,050,140.64. This trade represents a 59.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,958 shares of company stock valued at $101,181,747 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $561.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $570.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $522.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Tigress Financial upped their price objective 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. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

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.