First Western Trust Bank Has $644,000 Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Western Trust Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the quarter. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of META stock traded up $2.82 on Thursday, hitting $475.42. 9,422,173 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,126,488. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $489.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $412.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $230.72 and a one year high of $531.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.69, for a total value of $16,156,396.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,223,992 shares of company stock worth $597,661,462. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

About Meta Platforms

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.