LM Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LM Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.3% of LM Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. LM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $627.06 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $574.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $609.28. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $701.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,866 shares in the company, valued at $23,212,039.50. This trade represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 76,549 shares of company stock worth $48,993,741 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.