Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Community Trust & Investment Co.

Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,376 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.1% of Community Trust & Investment Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Community Trust & Investment Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $33,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at $4,205,164.86. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,031 shares of company stock valued at $73,954,565 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ META traded down $13.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $682.35. 22,498,010 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,546,627. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $618.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $623.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.