Grove Bank & Trust Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,214 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of META stock traded down $1.46 on Thursday, hitting $695.77. 9,635,650 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,501,973. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $612.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $621.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $710.00.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 88,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $62,048,632.36. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This represents a 2.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,512 shares of company stock worth $73,590,232. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.