German American Bancorp Inc. Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

German American Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.2% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $274,643,622.24. This represents a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $572.74 and a 200 day moving average of $524.35. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective 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 assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

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.