Merit Financial Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Merit Financial Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,120 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 320 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in 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 position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,945,799,000 after purchasing an additional 111,735 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total value of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total value of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at $2,913,722.46. 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 over the last quarter. Company 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. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $10.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $451.96. The company had a trading volume of 16,474,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,392,596. The stock has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $491.36 and a 200 day moving average of $407.43.

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