Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Purchases 3,340 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,340 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $114,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $657.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $601.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total transaction of $260,008.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 761,002 shares of company stock worth $495,449,598. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.