M&T Bank Corp Acquires 1,279 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 362,744 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $128,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,591,602,000 after acquiring an additional 3,093,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,704 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of META stock traded up $10.28 on Friday, hitting $451.96. 16,489,057 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,698,000. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $490.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $408.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total value of $15,737,772.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252. Company 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.