Zions Bancorporation N.A. Purchases 6,926 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,273 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,926 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. TIAA Trust National Association grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 199,410 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $116,759,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 53,941 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,583,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 13,324 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,800,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,618,903 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,118,904,000 after acquiring an additional 123,190 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $656.24 and a 200-day moving average of $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.