Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 106,355 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,336 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 34,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 4,078 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,443,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,782 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,373,000 after buying an additional 11,346 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $677,000. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 18,491 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,545,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $13.72 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $465.68. 15,071,031 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,354,510. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.27 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $15,853,952. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

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.