EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,980 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 3,343 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Bayban grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade 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 have sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.3%
Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $556.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $601.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $622.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.25.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. The company's revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 7.63%.
More Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate. Meta: Buy The AI Spending Panic
- Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already improving ad performance, personalization and user engagement. Meta also highlighted potential enterprise AI products, personal AI agents and new applications. Buy Meta’s Earnings Drop
- Positive Sentiment: Despite reductions, major firms retained bullish ratings and price targets, including UBS at $715, Baird at $750, Cantor Fitzgerald at $680 and Rosenblatt at $883. The targets imply substantial long-term upside if Meta converts AI spending into monetization. Meta Given New Price Target at Baird
- Neutral Sentiment: The earnings miss was partly affected by approximately $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance costs. Excluding these items, supporters argue that underlying profitability was healthier, but reported margins still declined.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta reported $6.18 in quarterly EPS, below expectations near $7.19, while free cash flow fell to only $784 million from $31.9 billion in operating cash flow as AI data-center capital expenditures surged. Investors remain unconvinced that the spending will generate adequate returns soon. Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag
- Negative Sentiment: Future AI-related lease obligations reached $279 billion, increasing concerns about balance-sheet commitments and execution risk. Additional legal and regulatory pressure includes a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that social-media companies harmed minors, plus an Indian police case involving Meta’s India chief over Facebook posts depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s AI Splurge Lays Bare Its Compute Conundrum
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $789.95.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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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