WASHINGTON TRUST Co Has $48.02 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 83,885 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,234 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.7% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $567.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $555.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $513.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $308.33 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.26% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,285,234.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.