Waverly Advisors LLC Acquires 5,859 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 34.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,827 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,859 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 817,752 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $478,802,000 after purchasing an additional 72,338 shares in the last quarter. Whelan Financial raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 2,931 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,103 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 542,173 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $317,448,000 after purchasing an additional 119,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 644,543 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $377,386,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,361,815.60. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $635.50, for a total transaction of $329,824.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,535,270. The trade was a 1.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,157 shares of company stock worth $49,411,000 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $627.06. The company had a trading volume of 8,442,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,484,811. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business's 50 day moving average price is $574.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $608.90.

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