US Bancorp DE Has $516.49 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 882,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,810 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $516,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $623.50, for a total transaction of $257,505.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,692,495.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 775,295 shares of company stock valued at $504,237,715 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $625.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $656.39 and its 200 day moving average is $599.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.