Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 254.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,568 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,998 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total transaction of $5,836,104.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $62,048,632.36. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 111,031 shares of company stock valued at $73,954,565. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, June 12th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of META stock traded down $13.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $682.35. The stock had a trading volume of 22,498,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,512,174. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $618.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $623.14. 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 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.