Castleark Management LLC Sells 24,960 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Castleark Management LLC cut its Meta Platforms stake by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 24,960 shares and leaving it with 122,415 shares worth about $80.8 million.
• Meta continues to draw strong institutional interest overall, with major holders like Norges Bank and Vanguard adding to positions; institutions and hedge funds now own 79.91% of the stock.
• The company remains backed by generally positive fundamentals and analyst sentiment, with recent earnings beating expectations, new AI and subscription initiatives underway, and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus price target of $840.60.

Castleark Management LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 122,415 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 24,960 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.4% of Castleark Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Castleark Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $80,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,191,175,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,874,837 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,818,731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,496 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Three 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $566.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. The company's fifty day moving average is $621.15 and its 200 day moving average is $635.89. 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their position. 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 have sold a total of 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 over the last ninety days. 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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