Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 378 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 77,294 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 378 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.5% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total transaction of $348,249.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,930,042. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,563 shares of company stock valued at $34,793,185 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $697.71 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $615.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.