Washington Trust Bank Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Washington Trust Bank lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,741 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 525 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.3% of Washington Trust Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Washington Trust Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, VeraBank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $8.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $602.58. The stock had a trading volume of 10,412,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,822,847. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business's 50 day moving average price is $656.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $608.02.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock valued at $387,084,349 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.