Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,549 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position 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 valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 valued at $6,906,009,000 after purchasing an additional 946,871 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in 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 valued at $3,945,799,000 after purchasing an additional 111,735 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $13.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $465.68. The company had a trading volume of 15,071,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,354,510. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.27 and a 1 year 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $490.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $409.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total value of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,794,965.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,913,722.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Wedbush cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

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.