AMG National Trust Bank Buys 5,363 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 65.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,541 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 5,363 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $2.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $712.68. 8,253,539 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,556,341. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $692.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $641.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.10, for a total transaction of $371,655.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,069 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,668,010.90. The trade was a 1.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $752.33.

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.