Castleark Management LLC Has $74.26 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Castleark Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,828 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.6% of Castleark Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $74,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,939,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $334,000. Finally, Sara Bay Financial boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sara Bay Financial now owns 28,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,703,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 79,169 shares of company stock valued at $50,927,926 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $637.10 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $572.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $607.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 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.