Riverview Trust Co Sells 34 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Riverview Trust Co reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,024 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 34 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.7% of Riverview Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Riverview Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 17,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after buying an additional 2,382 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 458 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 40,576 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,227,000 after buying an additional 3,714 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $625.66 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $656.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $600.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. 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 payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,860,580. This trade represents a 2.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 775,295 shares of company stock worth $504,237,715 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.