9,545 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Chemung Canal Trust Co.

Chemung Canal Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,545 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,589,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.2% of Chemung Canal Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,559,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.4% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 13,445 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,779,000 after acquiring an additional 3,799 shares during the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,115,000. Finally, Invst LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report 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 given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $659.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $663.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $604.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $561.55.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 603,032 shares of company stock valued at $368,666,614. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.