St. Clair Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 840 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of META stock opened at $640.34 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $571.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $607.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total value of $677,920.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,852 shares of company stock worth $41,665,958 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

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.