Bank of Stockton Purchases 400 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bank of Stockton grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Finally, AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. now owns 4,149 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $527.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $530.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $480.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $385.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $485.00, for a total transaction of $283,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,906,755. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,495,983 shares of company stock worth $705,134,392. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.38.

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.