First Interstate Bank Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Interstate Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,282 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 66.4% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rollins Financial boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,765,650. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,765,650. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of META stock opened at $524.62 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $495.37.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.