Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Wexford Capital LP

Wexford Capital LP raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 706.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,979 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 7,865 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.8% of Wexford Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Wexford Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 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 buying 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 buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:META opened at $640.34 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $571.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $607.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total transaction of $383,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,629,887.50. This trade represents a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,852 shares of company stock worth $41,665,958. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.05.

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.