Country Trust Bank Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Country Trust Bank trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 18,294 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,934,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,413,027,000 after buying an additional 1,172,997 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,424,543,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,803,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,859,893,000 after purchasing an additional 6,735,038 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $4,072,543,000. Institutional investors own 62.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $280.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $353.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $280.00 to $336.00 in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, forty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,643 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.19, for a total transaction of $3,258,780.17. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 91,617 shares in the company, valued at $28,052,209.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.67, for a total value of $229,357.74. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,805,837.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.19, for a total transaction of $3,258,780.17. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 91,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,052,209.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,457 shares of company stock valued at $12,273,577 over the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $302.55 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.09 and a 12 month high of $326.20. The stock has a market cap of $778.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $302.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The social networking company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.36. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 18.70% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.91 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 13.17 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.