Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Colonial Trust Advisors

Colonial Trust Advisors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 14.8 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $585.77 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $634.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $708.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total value of $7,984,944.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 381,290 shares in the company, valued at $234,649,678.90. The trade was a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 499,507 shares of company stock worth $334,165,387. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.