First Merchants Corp Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Merchants Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ META opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $644.55 and a 200 day moving average of $588.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.