Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC Purchases New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,055 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,517,000. Meta Platforms makes up 0.6% of Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Myecfo LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the second quarter. Myecfo LLC now owns 776 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $402,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,533,150. This represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 58,397 shares of company stock worth $44,662,165 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $627.08 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $721.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $705.05.

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 the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

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.