RNC Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

RNC Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth 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. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

META opened at $719.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $725.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $631.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $578.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 756,735 shares of company stock valued at $475,285,232 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.