Ledyard National Bank Sells 52 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,411 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 319,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $113,093,000 after purchasing an additional 15,491 shares during the period. Steele Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $793,000. Fernwood Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 21,389 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,571,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 3,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 17,083 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,552,865.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,276,482 shares of company stock valued at $620,451,095 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on META shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $435.53. 8,055,791 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,295,426. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $493.66 and its 200 day moving average is $406.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.