CENTRAL TRUST Co Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,709 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total transaction of $1,928,283.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,970,116.17. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,512 shares of company stock worth $73,590,232 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

META stock opened at $695.77 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $612.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $621.89. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wedbush raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Company 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.