First County Bank CT Sells 281 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First County Bank CT lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,035 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 281 shares during the period. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 361,640 shares of company stock valued at $219,037,690. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of META stock traded down $12.44 on Tuesday, hitting $617.76. The stock had a trading volume of 9,077,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,873,400. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $352.05 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $590.92 and a 200 day moving average of $550.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.80.

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.