Garde Capital Inc. Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,320 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76% 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 70,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,157 shares of company stock valued at $49,411,000 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price 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. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.06 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $574.80 and a 200-day moving average of $609.16. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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.