Hemenway Trust Co LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 719 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 110,040 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $648.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.