Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,921 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,268,000.
Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%
Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $597.63 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $617.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $636.73. 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 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.
More Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with analysts including RBC reiterating an outperform view and setting a higher price target, suggesting investors still see meaningful upside in Meta’s core ad and AI businesses.
- Positive Sentiment: A new study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies adopting AI, reinforcing the market’s view that AI remains a key long-term growth driver for the company.
- Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced broader teen-safety controls and new Instagram features aimed at safer, more age-appropriate feeds, which may help ease concerns around user safety and regulation.
- Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Meta as a long-term growth or value stock, reflecting continued investor interest but not a clear near-term catalyst.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta is dialing back its plan to collect employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes for AI training after staff pushback, underscoring internal resistance to how aggressively the company is pursuing AI data collection. Exclusive: Meta scales back AI mouse clicks tool, citing employee concerns
- Negative Sentiment: Hackers reportedly tricked Meta’s AI chatbot into helping them access Instagram accounts, raising fresh concerns about product security and trust in Meta’s AI systems. They tricked Meta’s chatbot to hack into Instagram accounts. It’s a warning about how much we trust AI.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta continues to face regulatory and legal pressure over scam ads and child-safety issues, including coordinated European complaints and a proposed group legal action in the UK, which could add compliance costs and reputational risk.
Insider Activity
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 40,890 shares of company stock worth $25,315,558 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.
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