Ledyard National Bank Takes $501,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ledyard National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,746 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Sageworth Trust Co acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2,500.0% in the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 130 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 189 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 62.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.45, for a total transaction of $193,261.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,255,319. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 28,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.60, for a total value of $8,699,595.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.45, for a total transaction of $193,261.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,255,319. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 176,082 shares of company stock worth $56,635,671. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $4.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $328.51. 5,841,048 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,262,021. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $310.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.31. The stock has a market cap of $844.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.32 and a 12 month high of $338.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The social networking company reported $4.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $34.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.58 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 23.42% and a return on equity of 26.40%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $435.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $360.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. New Street Research upgraded Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, forty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $348.26.

About Meta Platforms

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.