WASHINGTON TRUST Co lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,754 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,131 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. WASHINGTON TRUST Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $47,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $717.90.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ:META traded down $11.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $683.62. The stock had a trading volume of 15,609,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $645.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $589.12. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.
Meta Platforms Profile
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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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