Evercore Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,226 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 343,068 shares of company stock valued at $237,676,335. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $520.79 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $594.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $605.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.