Alerus Financial NA trimmed its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,651 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,750 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Alerus Financial NA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Alerus Financial NA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $625,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 20,773 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $11,891,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.55.
Check Out Our Latest Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3 %
Shares of META stock traded down $1.62 on Monday, reaching $575.12. 14,540,553 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,241,163. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $655.23 and a 200-day moving average of $609.90. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total value of $21,695,565.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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.
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