CENTRAL TRUST Co Has $19.43 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,709 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ META traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $695.77. 9,635,650 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,501,973. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $612.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $664.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,512 shares of company stock valued at $73,590,232. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms 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.