First National Trust Co Sells 1,604 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• First National Trust Co reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9%, currently holding 53,460 shares valued at approximately $30.8 million.
• Meta reported an EPS of $7.14 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue reaching $47.52 billion, a year-over-year increase of 21.6%.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing an annual yield of 0.3%.

First National Trust Co reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,460 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,604 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of First National Trust Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. First National Trust Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $30,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,030,399,000 after buying an additional 280,357 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

META traded down $8.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $768.07. 3,441,751 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,569,142. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company's fifty day moving average price is $704.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $647.27. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $478.65 and a one year high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,298 shares of company stock valued at $116,742,790. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.