Missouri Trust & Investment Co Has $2.24 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,921 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.8% of Missouri Trust & Investment Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Missouri Trust & Investment Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total value of $8,800,951.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,393,106.48. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock worth $84,533,106. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $568.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.