M&T Bank Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 528,288 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,416 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of M&T Bank Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $309,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its position 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. VeraBank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $7.72 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $605.71. 17,323,570 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,656,731. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $657.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $601.96. 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 data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares in the company, valued at $21,760,768.50. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 761,002 shares of company stock valued at $495,449,598 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.

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.