First National Bank of Hutchinson Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,770 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.7% of First National Bank of Hutchinson's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. First National Bank of Hutchinson's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $15.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $610.98. The stock had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,907. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 50-day moving average of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.