Michels Family Financial LLC Takes $1.51 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Michels Family Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,576 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,509,000. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of Michels Family Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,628 shares of company stock worth $48,380,586. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Bank of America raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $4.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $646.40. The stock had a trading volume of 4,669,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,436,213. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $576.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $609.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.