Truist Financial Corp Has $527.69 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 901,242 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,188 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Truist Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $527,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. X Square Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the third quarter. X Square Capital LLC now owns 10,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,016,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,610,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 29.3% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,880 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,945,000 after purchasing an additional 3,144 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $683.62 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $647.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $591.96. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $447,530.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,270,899.46. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 809,804 shares of company stock worth $523,576,440. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.