Sheets Smith Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,457 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during 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 lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 111,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on META. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

META stock traded up $11.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $463.50. The stock had a trading volume of 11,334,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,305,488. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $230.27 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $490.72 and a 200 day moving average of $409.58. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS 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 return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current fiscal 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.