Spire Wealth Management Sells 2,363 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Spire Wealth Management reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,642 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,363 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Spire Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $32,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,280,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,759,417.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $452,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,280,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 387,173 shares of company stock valued at $200,360,483. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $521.31 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $505.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $493.37. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.