Diversified Trust Co Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,464 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Diversified Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total transaction of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,641,281.24. This trade represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 361,640 shares of company stock worth $219,037,690 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9 %

META traded down $12.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $618.00. 5,124,596 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,865,771. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $352.05 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $590.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $550.47.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.