Iowa State Bank Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Iowa State Bank trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,165 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,493 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.7% of Iowa State Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Iowa State Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,272 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,453,384. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total transaction of $329,777.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,221 shares in the company, valued at $19,202,725.61. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,056 shares of company stock valued at $35,074,903. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, 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 report on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $23.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $670.90. The company had a trading volume of 15,706,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,486,998. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $578.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $611.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm 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 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.