National Pension Service Purchases 74,160 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,686,288 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,160 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.8% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.14% of Meta Platforms worth $1,304,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $217,000. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 22,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 10,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,653,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,223,416 shares of company stock worth $597,392,856. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of META stock traded up $2.17 on Thursday, reaching $474.77. 4,545,482 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,069,059. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.72 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $489.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $412.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during 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, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.