GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 332,185 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,498,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 4.2% of GF Fund Management CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,272 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,384. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,157 shares of company stock valued at $49,411,000. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. TD Securities decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.06 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $574.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $608.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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