First National Trust Co Decreases Position in 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 cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing 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 quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of First National Trust Co's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. First National Trust Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $30,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total transaction of $12,181,113.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total transaction of $393,054.42. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,005,049.68. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 199,509 shares of company stock worth $141,509,323 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $1.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $770.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,357,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,499,998. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $709.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $648.93. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $784.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.