Montecito Bank & Trust Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 55 shares during the quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,550,434.92. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $3,334,383.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 84,672 shares of company stock worth $55,455,647 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $702.12 on Tuesday. 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 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $607.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $620.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors 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 yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.88.

Meta Platforms Company 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.