Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,443 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,430,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Bank of Jackson Hole Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total value of $2,469,975.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded up $12.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $669.88. The company had a trading volume of 9,932,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,715,486. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $648.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $594.06. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.