Farmers Trust Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Farmers Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,482 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pearl River Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $1,120,000. PAX Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $292,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 322.2% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 705 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 29.3% in the third quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,478 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.2% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,992,893 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,799,126,000 after buying an additional 400,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on META. Wedbush dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $492.14, for a total transaction of $15,498,965.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $492.14, for a total value of $15,498,965.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.75, for a total transaction of $208,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,061,678.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 313,169 shares of company stock worth $153,344,736. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $501.70 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $479.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $445.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

About Meta Platforms

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.