Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,222 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.4% of Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Reliant Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $249,000. Lam Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Lam Group Inc. now owns 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 6,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of META opened at $636.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $600.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $559.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% 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.