First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $41.36 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,291 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,205 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.7% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Bayban grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 36,393 shares of company stock worth $22,141,163 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $595.19 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $604.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $625.53. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.