Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,606 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,395 shares of company stock valued at $123,781,816 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $509.96 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $481.05 and a 200 day moving average of $458.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

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.