FineMark National Bank & Trust Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,941 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $656.24 and a 200 day moving average of $608.00.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related 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 value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.