Trust Co of the South Invests $868,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Trust Co of the South purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,453 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $868,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $905,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,443 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $496.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total value of $251,526.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,148,086.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 77,412 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.92, for a total transaction of $39,241,691.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total transaction of $251,526.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,029 shares in the company, valued at $5,148,086.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,442,145 shares of company stock worth $665,553,088. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $7.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $495.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,179,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,088,033. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.90 and a fifty-two week high of $523.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $459.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $373.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.