CENTRAL TRUST Co Purchases 686 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,122 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $711.99 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $624.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $572.13. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $718.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.