Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Buys 1,975 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,975 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after purchasing an additional 946,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $13.72 on Monday, reaching $465.68. 15,071,031 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,354,510. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.27 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $409.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,643 shares in the company, valued at $15,794,965.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $958,392.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,757,883.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $15,794,965.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.