BTC Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,194 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,580 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of BTC Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. BTC Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,664 shares of company stock worth $35,484,670 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of META stock traded down $2.82 on Friday, hitting $642.23. The stock had a trading volume of 16,230,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,482,228. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's 50 day moving average is $578.56 and its 200-day moving average is $611.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

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.