iA Global Asset Management Inc. Has $161.85 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 282,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,734 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $161,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $582.88 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $602.79 and a 200 day moving average of $628.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $84,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares in the company, valued at $7,707,600. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on META. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.64.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is being viewed more favorably by some analysts because its AI-powered ads are reportedly improving advertiser returns, which supports revenue growth and suggests its AI spending is starting to pay off. Meta’s Capex Is Paying Off, But The Market Doesn’t Care
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta may rent out excess GPU capacity and build a cloud-computing business are boosting sentiment, since investors see a potential new monetization avenue beyond digital advertising. Meta’s push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s broader AI strategy is also getting support from bullish coverage that argues the company is chasing a huge enterprise AI-compute opportunity and could eventually re-rate higher if execution improves. Senior Analyst: Meta Is Chasing A $2 Trillion AI Compute Opportunity, But It’s Years Behind
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta remains a highly followed stock, with traders and analysts continuing to debate whether its AI investment cycle will translate into sustainable earnings growth or just higher spending. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Negative Sentiment: Zuckerberg also acknowledged that Meta’s AI agents are progressing slower than expected, which reinforces investor concerns that some of the company’s ambitious AI initiatives may take longer to monetize. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Negative Sentiment: India reportedly asked Meta to delay its WhatsApp username rollout over fraud concerns, creating a potential regulatory hurdle for one of Meta’s most important messaging growth initiatives. India asks Meta to hold WhatsApp username rollout over fraud fears

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.