Whelan Financial Acquires 508 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whelan Financial raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,931 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of Whelan Financial’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Whelan Financial’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $640.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $571.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $607.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 98,837 shares of company stock valued at $64,758,661. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.