Heritage Trust Co Invests $8.67 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 14,811 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $8,672,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.0% of Heritage Trust Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $692.93.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $6.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $524.76. The stock had a trading volume of 7,649,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,748,514. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's fifty day moving average is $624.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $609.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $255,234.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,057,950. This trade represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 450,214 shares of company stock worth $304,162,130 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.