Park National Corp OH Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,149 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,416 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Park National Corp OH’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $45,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $657.15 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $663.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $707.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,458 shares of company stock valued at $25,436,200. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.