First Hawaiian Bank Cuts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Hawaiian Bank reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.6% of First Hawaiian Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $595,152,000. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $7.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $610.72. The company had a trading volume of 9,675,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,069,182. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $591.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $551.33. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $355.36 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total transaction of $241,534.79. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,744,844.39. The trade was a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 361,640 shares of company stock worth $219,037,690. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.