National Pension Service Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,686,288 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 74,160 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.8% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. National Pension Service’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,304,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Verus Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during 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 last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 10,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,653,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC increased its position in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $474.77. The stock had a trading volume of 4,545,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,069,059. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.72 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $489.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.20.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.69, for a total value of $16,156,396.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,223,416 shares of company stock worth $597,392,856. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.