Rockland Trust Co. Sells 2,839 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rockland Trust Co. decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 62,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,839 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.9% of Rockland Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $36,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $617.12 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $554.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Meta Platforms 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.