Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Buys 152 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $15,853,952. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $10.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $451.96. The stock had a trading volume of 16,489,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,698,000. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $490.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $409.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

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.