Moody National Bank Trust Division Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Moody National Bank Trust Division trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 899 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Moody National Bank Trust Division’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.7% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 9,503 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the second quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 2,945 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 25,600 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,908,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 11,528 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,813,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.06 on Monday, reaching $606.80. The company had a trading volume of 7,096,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,426,095. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $593.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $553.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend 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%.

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.