Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Nixon Peabody Trust Co.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,801 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.2% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.9% during the 1st quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $799,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 2,023 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,476 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 3,359 shares during the last quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 28,314.7% in the 1st quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 367,686 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $211,920,000 after purchasing an additional 366,392 shares during the period. Finally, Floyd Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Floyd Financial Group LLC now owns 6,632 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. TD Securities cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $3.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $684.62. The stock had a trading volume of 13,062,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,510,834. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $583.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $613.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,652 shares of company stock valued at $34,815,208. 13.61% of the stock is owned by 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.