Nicolet Bankshares Inc. Purchases 68 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nicolet Bankshares Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,872 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Nicolet Bankshares Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Nicolet Bankshares Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ceeto Capital Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC now owns 7,661 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,486,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Oder Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Oder Investment Management LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,296,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $775,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 114,192 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $66,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concorde Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Concorde Asset Management LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock worth $326,680,904. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $543.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $628.35 and a 200 day moving average of $609.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.