Whittier Trust Co. Acquires 23,804 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 214,665 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,804 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $123,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Future You Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% during the first quarter. Future You Wealth LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Melfa Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the first quarter. Melfa Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,463,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the first quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 453 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Finally, BluePointe Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 48.0% during the first quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $704.28 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $686.09 and a 200-day moving average of $638.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total transaction of $370,947.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,892,632.50. The trade was a 7.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,755,013.36. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $736.05.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.