Simmons Bank Buys 1,006 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Simmons Bank grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,998 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Simmons Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centric Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 987 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,324,745 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,716,427,000 after buying an additional 181,283 shares during the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,645,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 34,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $445.93, for a total value of $218,505.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,186.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $445.93, for a total transaction of $218,505.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,186.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,223,416 shares of company stock valued at $597,392,856 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $3.97 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $472.21. The company had a trading volume of 9,105,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,190,977. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.72 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $490.03 and a 200 day moving average of $411.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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