Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Buys 544 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,072 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.4% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $387.10 and a 1-year high of $710.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $613.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.78.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

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.