Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,718 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.7% of Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,945,799,000 after acquiring an additional 111,735 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Barclays lowered their price target 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.80.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $10.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $451.96. The stock had a trading volume of 16,489,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,698,000. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $490.72 and a 200-day moving average of $408.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.