Trust Co. of Vermont Has $32.99 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,625 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,157 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.7% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $32,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.1% during the first quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $877,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,845 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. now owns 2,276 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,821,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $190,756.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,816 shares of company stock valued at $132,421,828. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $617.37.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $576.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $546.53 and a 200-day moving average of $508.68. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.