Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by First Citizens Financial Corp

First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Modus Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 3,917 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,293,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Franchise Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Franchise Capital Ltd now owns 44,488 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,048,000 after buying an additional 11,397 shares during the last quarter. NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $594,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 34,862 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,684 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,157,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 327,116 shares of company stock valued at $198,171,544. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $2.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $601.40. 4,940,894 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,637,012. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $589.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $548.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $343.40 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.88.

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.