Legacy Private Trust Co. Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Legacy Private Trust Co. lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,558 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,294 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of Legacy Private Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Legacy Private Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $23.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $670.90. 15,706,506 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,487,365. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $579.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $612.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. 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 company earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 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 value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,056 shares of company stock valued at $35,074,903 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $701.05.

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.