HTLF Bank Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HTLF Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. HTLF Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 716,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $410,352,000 after acquiring an additional 14,754 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $343,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 5,478 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,513,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $638.73 and a 200 day moving average of $583.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.