Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Buys 544 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,072 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.4% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,471,822,000 after purchasing an additional 550,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the business’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 $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,329.64. The trade was a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $689.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $613.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $565.78. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

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.