First Western Trust Bank Sells 3,109 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Western Trust Bank lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 50.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,011 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,109 shares during the quarter. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 101,072.5% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 777,798,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $223,212,667,000 after buying an additional 777,029,902 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 152,934,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,413,027,000 after buying an additional 1,172,997 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 19.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,803,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,859,893,000 after buying an additional 6,735,038 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $4,223,148,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $4,072,543,000. Institutional investors own 62.87% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.8 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $337.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,409,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,198,789. The company has a market capitalization of $867.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.32 and a 12 month high of $341.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $311.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 2.57.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $350.00 to $435.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. New Street Research raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, forty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $348.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 7,634 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.31, for a total value of $2,567,390.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 91,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,743,106.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 670 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,255,319. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 7,634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.31, for a total transaction of $2,567,390.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 91,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,743,106.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 204,534 shares of company stock valued at $66,204,363. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.