Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,351 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,939 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.6% of Ascent Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $635.50, for a total value of $329,824.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,535,270. The trade was a 1.66% 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 worth $49,411,000 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.06 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $574.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $609.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during 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%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, 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.