Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 110.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,879 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,880 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st 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.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.0%
META stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $697.11. 5,897,539 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,482,856. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm's 50 day moving average is $610.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $621.38. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors 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 yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have commented on META. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $710.00.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 84,672 shares of company stock valued at $55,455,647. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Looking for the next FAANG stock before everyone has heard about it? Enter your email address to see which stocks MarketBeat analysts think might become the next trillion dollar tech company.
Get This Free Report
