Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Waterloo Capital L.P.

Waterloo Capital L.P. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,444 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,373,000 after purchasing an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $526,715.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,171,959.94. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to be viewed as a major AI winner, with Truist calling out a potential next $20 billion business and analysts remaining bullish on the company’s long-term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s $115 million workforce academy and related data-center training initiatives reinforce its aggressive AI infrastructure buildout and commitment to scaling capacity.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Best Buy partnership to showcase AI glasses and VR headsets could help drive consumer interest and future hardware adoption.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators ordered Meta to restore WhatsApp access for rival AI chatbots, adding antitrust pressure and potentially weakening Meta’s platform advantage.
• Negative Sentiment: A newly reported AI bug that enabled Instagram account takeovers raises fresh cybersecurity and trust concerns for the platform.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta has delayed a key AI rollout are fueling concern that monetization of its AI investments may take longer than expected.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $584.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $620.77 and a 200-day moving average of $636.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.