First Western Trust Bank Acquires 39 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Western Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,704 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’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 $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,223,992 shares of company stock valued at $597,661,462 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.82 during trading on Thursday, hitting $475.42. 9,422,173 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,126,488. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $489.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $412.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.72 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

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.