BLB&B Advisors LLC Takes $206,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Posted by on Mar 26th, 2023

BLB&B Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horan Securities Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 60.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $206.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.63. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.09 and a 52-week high of $236.86. The firm has a market cap of $534.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.88. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 19.90% and a return on equity of 21.23%. The firm had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 10.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 1,400 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.96, for a total value of $242,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,949 shares in the company, valued at $510,059.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.96, for a total transaction of $242,144.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,059.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 5,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.48, for a total transaction of $909,963.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,078,916.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,393 shares of company stock valued at $12,324,981. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $275.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $170.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $125.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.33.

About Meta Platforms

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Meta Platforms, Inc, engages in the development of social media applications. It builds technology that helps people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. It operates through the Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL) segments. The FoA segment consists of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services.

Further Reading

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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