Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 6,217 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 31.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,676 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,217 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 worth $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,945,799,000 after acquiring an additional 111,735 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $10.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $451.96. The stock had a trading volume of 16,474,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,392,596. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $491.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $407.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 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.