Truist Financial Corp Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 886,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,981 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $447,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 324,751 shares of company stock worth $170,575,643 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $660.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $517.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $500.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $577.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.