Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $1.89 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,158,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the third quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the third quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 13,476 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,046,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.1% during the third quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 3,527 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,059,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the period. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,578,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $496.71. 6,291,527 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,983,236. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $495.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $402.50. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total transaction of $7,769,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

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.