1ST Source Bank Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

1ST Source Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,341 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the quarter. 1ST Source Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $586.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $655.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.56. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.