JT Stratford LLC Acquires 707 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

JT Stratford LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,863 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.4% of JT Stratford LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. JT Stratford LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,361,815.60. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total value of $2,469,975.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 80,161 shares of company stock worth $51,551,150 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $635.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $573.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.