Simmons Bank Has $17.60 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Simmons Bank trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 719 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.3% of Simmons Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $285,000. Sincerus Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $997,000. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,035,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 18,140 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,621,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, LifeGoal Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $515,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $640.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $654.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $598.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total value of $14,268,740.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Company 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.