Searle & CO. Invests $257,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Searle & CO. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,068 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,424,543,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $4,220,171,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,072,543,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,796,633,000. 62.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $435.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, August 18th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $310.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Meta Platforms from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, forty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.79.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 670 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.55, for a total transaction of $196,008.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,611,309.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,643 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.19, for a total value of $3,258,780.17. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 91,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,052,209.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 670 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.55, for a total transaction of $196,008.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,611,309.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 40,509 shares of company stock valued at $12,269,572 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $305.06 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $784.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $301.64 and its 200 day moving average is $257.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.09 and a 52-week high of $326.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The social networking company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.36. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 18.70% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.91 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 13.17 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.