City State Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

City State Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,845 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. City State Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2 %

META traded down $13.32 on Monday, hitting $602.54. The company had a trading volume of 4,245,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,967,252. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $593.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $553.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $358.61 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.98.

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.