BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 625,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 72,378 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $315,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vantage Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 11,058 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,914,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 31.9% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 25,676 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,088,000 after buying an additional 6,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $521.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $544.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $492.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at $159,759,417.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,744,534.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 388,078 shares of company stock worth $200,792,168 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms 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.