Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 30.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,196,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 277,025 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.8% of Great West Life Assurance Co. Can’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $344,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $474,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 63.8% in the second quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,251 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the second quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,498 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,039,000 after purchasing an additional 2,251 shares in the last quarter. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $100,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 55,149 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,827,000 after buying an additional 1,394 shares during the period. 62.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $310.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $372.00 to $411.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $348.26.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,031 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.31, for a total value of $2,700,905.61. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,022.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.31, for a total value of $3,579,011.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,102,771.79. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,031 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.31, for a total value of $2,700,905.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,013 shares in the company, valued at $5,049,022.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 204,534 shares of company stock valued at $66,204,363 in the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of META stock traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $335.04. 14,519,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,275,752. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.32 and a 1 year high of $338.40. The company’s 50 day moving average is $311.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.62. 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 has a market cap of $861.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.21.

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