Warm Springs Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Warm Springs Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 749 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in 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 valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 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 transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 16,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,157 shares of company stock valued at $49,411,000. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Raymond James dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $627.06 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $574.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $608.90. The stock has a market cap 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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.