National Bank of Canada FI Buys 1,542 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,371 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $111,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 3,341 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO grew its position in Meta Platforms by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO now owns 1,929 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Charles Carroll Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Carroll Financial Partners LLC now owns 8,325 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,947,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 446.1% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 22,574 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,990,000 after buying an additional 18,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AJOVista LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $535,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,924,027.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

META traded up $10.28 on Friday, reaching $451.96. 16,489,057 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,698,000. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $409.58. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current 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.