Equitable Trust Co. Has $10.44 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,831 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $736.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $638.73 and a 200 day moving average of $584.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $715.82, for a total value of $25,622,776.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.