Iowa State Bank Has $9.75 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Iowa State Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 198 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.0% of Iowa State Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised 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 valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 326,624 shares of company stock worth $197,875,975. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $16.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $620.91. The company had a trading volume of 7,568,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,500,438. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $352.05 and a one year high of $638.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $589.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $549.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.25, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.