Root Financial Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 13.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,349 shares during the quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after acquiring an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after acquiring an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank AG upgraded Meta Platforms from “hold” to “buy,” a supportive signal that can lift investor confidence in the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
- Positive Sentiment: Meta was also highlighted in multiple “best ideas” and bullish commentary pieces, including a CNBC “Final Trades” mention and analysis around its AI and neocloud expansion, reinforcing the view that the company’s long-term growth story remains intact.
- Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Meta may expand into the neocloud business could be seen as strategically interesting, but the market impact is still uncertain because it is not yet a confirmed revenue driver.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in an upcoming youth-safety trial, a major legal overhang that could weigh on shares due to the size of the potential liability. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
- Negative Sentiment: Separate reports that India is pressuring Meta over child-abuse related ads on Instagram add to regulatory pressure and could further hurt sentiment around the company’s content-moderation risks.
- Negative Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reportedly said Meta’s AI agent development “hasn’t really accelerated” as expected, which may raise questions about near-term returns on the company’s heavy AI spending.
Insiders Place Their Bets
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.64.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%
META stock traded up $11.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $611.78. 2,567,146 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,495,410. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $601.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $627.66.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. 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.
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