Liberty One Investment Management LLC Purchases 1,963 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 35.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,963 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bayban lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,393 shares of company stock valued at $22,141,163 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors see Meta as attractively valued ahead of Wednesday’s earnings, with estimates suggesting its forward earnings multiple is below historical norms and the broader market. Meta’s record of 13 consecutive earnings beats raises the possibility of another upside surprise. Meta Platforms: Time To Be Greedy
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue growth is expected to benefit from user expansion, higher advertising prices and increased ad volume. Meta is also expanding Meta AI by placing its chatbot in Threads direct messages, potentially increasing engagement and creating additional monetization opportunities over time. Threads users can now chat with Meta AI in their DMs
• Positive Sentiment: Supporters argue Meta can absorb elevated capital expenditures, including as much as $145 billion in 2026 AI spending, because of its strong cash generation and advertising business. Its AI infrastructure plans could also create opportunities to sell excess computing capacity at premium prices. Meta Can Absorb Capex Trouble
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta reports results after the market closes Wednesday, and options traders are pricing a sizable post-earnings move. The report, guidance and commentary on AI returns and spending will likely determine the stock’s near-term direction. Meta Reports Earnings Wednesday
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about rising costs, heavy capital expenditures and uncertain returns on AI investments are weighing on sentiment. The broader technology sector has recently seen investors sell or fail to reward stocks even after strong earnings, contributing to Meta’s recent decline. Meta Q2 Earnings Loom
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces ongoing legal and reputational risks. Tennessee attorneys allege that company leadership ignored internal research about Instagram’s effects on teenagers, while a separate lawsuit alleges failures to prevent abuse on Meta’s platforms. Adverse rulings or regulatory action could increase costs and constrain product practices. Meta disregarded its own research on teen harm

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $593.87 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $604.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $625.06. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

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.