Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $153.40 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 261,989 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 35,771 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $153,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $659.36 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $569.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $605.94.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total transaction of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,656 shares in the company, valued at $15,201,693.12. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total transaction of $383,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,629,887.50. This trade represents a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,932 shares of company stock worth $69,021,252 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.