Legg Mason Asset Management Japan Co. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 3,201 Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)
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Legg Mason Asset Management Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $874,000.
Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Facebook by 80.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after acquiring an additional 5,447 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Facebook by 6.1% in the third quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 151,706 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,732,000 after buying an additional 8,737 shares during the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Facebook by 3.9% during the third quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in Facebook by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 122,260 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,020,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Facebook by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,289 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,099,000 after buying an additional 4,965 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.95% of the company’s stock.
In related news, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 2,707 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.47, for a total transaction of $729,455.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,147 shares in the company, valued at $848,022.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,250 shares of Facebook stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.10, for a total value of $1,756,875.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,405 shares of company stock valued at $391,410,282 over the last three months. 14.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Shares of FB stock traded up $9.40 on Thursday, reaching $264.81. 975,579 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,079,922. Facebook, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.10 and a 12-month high of $304.67. The company has a market capitalization of $754.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $264.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.29.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 27th. The social networking company reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.24 by $0.64. Facebook had a return on equity of 23.27% and a net margin of 32.00%. The firm had revenue of $28.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Facebook, Inc. will post 9.39 EPS for the current year.
FB has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Facebook from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 28th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on shares of Facebook from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Facebook from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 28th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Facebook from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Facebook from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.98.
Facebook Profile
Facebook, Inc develops products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and in-home devices worldwide. The company’s products include Facebook that enables people to connect, share, discover, and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, groups, and businesses across platforms and devices; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate in a private way.
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