Apella Capital LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Apella Capital LLC increased its Meta Platforms stake by 19.5% in the first quarter, buying 1,120 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 6,852 shares worth about $3.92 million.
• Wall Street remains cautiously bullish on Meta: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, with an average target price of $840.60, even as several firms recently trimmed ratings or price targets.
• Meta’s latest results were strong, with Q1 EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue rising 33.1% year over year to $56.31 billion, while recent news continues to center on its AI spending, product growth, and some legal/reputational risks.

Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 19.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,852 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,920,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush’s Dan Ives said Meta is being treated like a “bear market” stock despite its central role in the AI buildout, arguing the recent selloff is more about short-term impatience than a broken AI thesis.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary said Meta’s AI push is driving revenue growth, stronger ad engagement, and rising user activity, supporting the case for further upside.
• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm’s new AI data-center push and partnerships with Meta and Microsoft reinforce Meta’s role in major AI infrastructure deals, which may support long-term growth expectations. Qualcomm stock jumps on AI data center push, Meta and Microsoft deals
• Positive Sentiment: One article framed Meta as one of the most attractive mega-cap tech names after the 2026 selloff, suggesting the stock could have meaningful recovery potential from current levels.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly pushing Meta to explore working with prediction-market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi as part of an Arena app aimed at younger users, which could expand engagement but is still early-stage. Mark Zuckerberg Urges Meta to Explore Working With Polymarket and Kalshi
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-sentiment commentary said Meta continues to keep users on its platforms longer, but investor sentiment remains weighed down by AI spending concerns. Ca$htag$: Is META Winning Over Consumers?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing fresh legal and reputational pressure after Sarah Wynn-Williams accused the company of surveilling her to silence criticism, adding to headline risk around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports continue to highlight investor concern that Meta’s aggressive AI infrastructure spending is compressing near-term cash flow, which has been a major factor behind the stock’s weakness.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares in the company, valued at $7,707,600. This represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This trade represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.4%

META opened at $550.25 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 company has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The business's fifty day moving average is $612.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $630.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The business's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 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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