Passumpsic Savings Bank Buys Shares of 4,319 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,319 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,851,000. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Passumpsic Savings Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,191,175,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $813,994,000. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 948.7% in the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $612.34 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $617.09 and a 200 day moving average of $636.70. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.19.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are viewing Meta’s massive AI spending more favorably as analysts and market commentators argue the AI boom could last longer than expected, potentially strengthening the company’s competitive position. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent pieces continue to frame Meta as a top long-term growth stock and a stock drawing increased investor attention, which can help reinforce bullish sentiment around the name. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is making a major workforce reduction in Washington state as part of a broader AI-driven restructuring, which may improve efficiency over time but also signals a significant internal reset. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is also getting additional investor and public scrutiny around AI, jobs, and capital allocation, with commentary suggesting the market is still debating whether Meta’s heavy AI investment will pay off. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: JLens is urging shareholders to back a proposal demanding more transparency on content moderation, highlighting ongoing governance and brand-safety concerns ahead of the annual meeting. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Meta’s challenge to Vermont’s social media addiction lawsuit, keeping legal exposure alive in a case centered on alleged harms to young users. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces a new lawsuit from Santa Clara County over allegedly scam-related AI ads, adding another regulatory and reputational overhang tied to ad practices and user safety. Article Title

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% 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 95,471 shares of company stock worth $60,616,955 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.