American Trust Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

American Trust raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,179 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 161,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $57,223,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares during the period. Financial Management Network Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Network Inc. now owns 2,309 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 4,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 823,514 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $291,491,000 after purchasing an additional 67,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 7,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total value of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $190,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,817. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $9.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $488.14. 24,044,658 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,151,374. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $542.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.