Simmons Bank Acquires 745 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Simmons Bank boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,771 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.3% of Simmons Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 18,662 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.5% during the third quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 7,308 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 7,183 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,112,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 421,381 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $241,215,000 after acquiring an additional 4,594 shares during the period. Finally, Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,292 shares in the company, valued at $24,393,106.48. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $554.08 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $568.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $520.60. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.