FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,445 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 858 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 264 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 2,749 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,607,770 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,041,543,000 after purchasing an additional 137,571 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $578,000. Finally, Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 17,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,608,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, March 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Three 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at $2,481,290.47. This represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.
Key Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
- Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
- Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use ‘Faceprint’ Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
- Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US ‘trade action’
- Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of META stock opened at $593.00 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $618.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $636.81.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.
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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