Alberta Investment Management Corp Lowers Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp slightly reduced its Meta stake by 0.9% in Q4, but still held 119,100 shares worth about $78.6 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $10.44 and revenue of $56.31 billion, both beating expectations. Revenue also rose 33.1% year over year.
• Despite some insider selling, analysts remain generally upbeat on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $840.60.

Alberta Investment Management Corp cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 119,100 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.4% of Alberta Investment Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth 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. Amundi grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 56.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 10,043,955 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,629,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,191,175,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 40,568 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,365 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $577.22 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $621.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $634.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Three investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure by signing new computing deals with Crusoe, which should help support its long-term AI buildout and capacity needs. Reuters: Meta signs new AI computing deals with data center firm Crusoe
• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to strengthen its AI-led growth narrative through data center expansion in India and new creator-focused AI tools on Facebook, both of which could improve engagement and future monetization. Insider Monkey: Meta rolls out new AI features on Facebook for content creators
• Positive Sentiment: Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users, and Meta is adding new community and feed features, reinforcing the company’s platform growth beyond Facebook and Instagram. Yahoo Finance: Meta reaches 500 million Threads users
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s COO Javier Olivan disclosed another pre-planned stock sale, which is notable but not necessarily a fundamental signal since it was executed under a 10b5-1 plan. InsiderTrades: Meta COO sells stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s dividend and long-term shareholder-return profile are supportive, but this is unlikely to be the main short-term stock driver. Finbold: Meta to pay dividends next week
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Meta is lobbying Congress for legal protection from child-harm lawsuits, keeping regulatory and litigation risk in focus for investors. Reuters: Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns around AI execution also weighed on sentiment after Reuters said a key executive overseeing Meta’s “AI for work” transformation is leaving the company. Reuters: Meta head of product for AI for work transformation is leaving company
• Negative Sentiment: Meta was also hit by reports that attackers exploited its AI customer support chatbot to compromise Instagram accounts, raising trust and security concerns around its AI tools. Yahoo Finance: Meta faces AI support breach as key internal AI executive exits

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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