Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by First Community Trust NA

First Community Trust NA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,916 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.4% of First Community Trust NA’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. First Community Trust NA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. S.A. Mason LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,130,103.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $535,549.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,753 shares in the company, valued at $4,130,103.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 335,860 shares of company stock valued at $167,199,478. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $572.51.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of META traded up $13.33 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $529.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,146,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,387,576. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $497.26 and a 200 day moving average of $484.74. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms 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.