Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 19,303 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 496,374 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,303 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $175,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,257,291 shares of company stock valued at $612,916,087. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $3.37 on Thursday, reaching $442.56. 9,500,240 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,343,910. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $492.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $406.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

About Meta Platforms

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.