Penobscot Wealth Management Buys Shares of 342 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Penobscot Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 342 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 16.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,976,357 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,131,347,000 after acquiring an additional 280,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.9% in the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 29,347 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,000 after acquiring an additional 3,575 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at $10,576,930. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock valued at $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $657.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $604.41.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s 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.