Legacy Private Trust Co. Reduces Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Legacy Private Trust Co. lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,926 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,130 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total value of $8,406,784.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 275,297 shares in the company, valued at $138,567,991.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,169 shares of company stock valued at $153,344,736 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price objective (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $494.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $478.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $446.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.