Peoples Bank KS Reduces Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Peoples Bank KS lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of Peoples Bank KS’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Peoples Bank KS’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total transaction of $241,534.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,533 shares in the company, valued at $6,744,844.39. This represents a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 361,640 shares of company stock worth $219,037,690 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $617.89 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $352.05 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $591.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $551.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.