Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Buys 1,325 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Brown Shipley & Co Ltd increased its Meta Platforms stake by 12.7% in the first quarter, buying 1,325 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 11,764 shares worth about $6.73 million.
• Meta continues to draw bullish Wall Street attention, with multiple analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating. Several reports also point to Meta’s AI initiatives as a potential future revenue driver.
• The company posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share. Despite the upbeat fundamentals, insider selling and concerns about heavy AI spending and legal risks remain in focus.

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,764 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.0% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Bayban raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta and kept an overweight rating, signaling expectations for meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Wells Fargo target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn also boosted its target and reiterated a buy rating, reflecting growing optimism that Meta can monetize AI more effectively. Benzinga report on Rothschild & Co Redburn target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Meta’s expanding AI strategy, including possible cloud/compute sales and large enterprise deals, which could create a new revenue stream and support margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America said Meta is positioned to beat second-quarter expectations, citing healthy ad demand and AI-driven improvements ahead of earnings later this month.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary continues to frame Meta as a key beneficiary of the AI spending boom, with investors watching whether infrastructure investment can be monetized faster than expected.
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison piece versus Pinterest and a broader “Mag 7” article mainly added background, but did not change the core investment thesis for META.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a Tennessee trial over claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive and contributed to youth mental-health issues, adding legal and regulatory risk.
• Negative Sentiment: A New York Times report said Meta’s AI moderation mistakenly banned user accounts, raising questions about product reliability and trust in its automated systems.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing investor concerns remain around heavy AI spending, data-center financing, and whether returns on that capital will justify the expense.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

META stock opened at $643.81 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $604.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $626.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is owned by 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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