Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Takes $332,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 937 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.1 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $14.94 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $496.67. 11,876,079 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,088,047. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $494.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $401.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 over the last three months. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

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.