ABN Amro Investment Solutions Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.3% in the first quarter, buying 19,354 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 145,873 shares valued at about $83.5 million.
• Meta’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $10.44 versus the $6.67 consensus and revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33.1% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Meta, with analysts maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $835.64, even as some insiders recently sold shares.

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,873 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,354 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.1% of ABN Amro Investment Solutions' portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. ABN Amro Investment Solutions' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $83,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Bayban boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $671.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $595.19 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $604.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $625.76. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% 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 a total of 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Meta Platforms 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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