Welch & Forbes LLC Purchases 3,336 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 106,355 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ META traded up $13.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $465.68. 15,071,031 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,354,510. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.27 and a 12-month 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 cap of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $490.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $409.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.