Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Increased by Point72 Europe London LLP

Point72 Europe London LLP grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1,563.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 70,295 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 66,069 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.4% of Point72 Europe London LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Point72 Europe London LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,932 shares of company stock worth $69,021,252 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $659.36 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $569.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $605.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms 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.