First Merchants Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Merchants Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,825 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $7.49 on Friday, hitting $687.35. 9,296,446 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,553,415. The company has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $645.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $589.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $447,530.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,270,899.46. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. 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.