STAR Financial Bank Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

STAR Financial Bank trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 286 shares during the quarter. STAR Financial Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,504,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,723,493,000 after purchasing an additional 17,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,150,374 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,520,720,000 after buying an additional 338,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total transaction of $469,740.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,568,394.35. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $572.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $524.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.