Truist Financial Corp Acquires 35,188 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 901,242 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 35,188 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.8% of Truist Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $527,686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $683.62 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $647.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $591.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 809,804 shares of company stock worth $523,576,440. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.