Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Schear Investment Advisers LLC's 9th Largest Position

Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,524 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.7% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Schear Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total value 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. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $274,643,622.24. The trade was a 1.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 185,958 shares of company stock worth $101,181,747. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $561.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,639,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,995,385. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $570.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $522.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Meta Platforms 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.