First Western Trust Bank Buys 46 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Western Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,531 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the quarter. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $896,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, VeraBank N.A. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 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 $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $531.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $651.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $609.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

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.