Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,334 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 14,874 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,709,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Poehling Capital Management INC. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 6,279 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,676,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. DCM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. DCM Advisors LLC now owns 20,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,948 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $26,933,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $324,805.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,882,478.75. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $3,334,383.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 80,161 shares of company stock worth $51,551,150. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $635.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $573.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $608.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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.