Forsta AP Fonden Has $393.92 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its Meta Platforms stake by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,340 shares and ending with 596,760 shares valued at about $393.9 million. Meta remains a major holding, making up 2.3% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Meta continues to draw strong institutional interest, with 79.91% of shares owned by institutional investors. At the same time, several insiders sold shares recently, including director Robert M. Kimmitt and insider Curtis J. Mahoney.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock despite mixed recent headlines, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60. Meta also reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

Forsta AP Fonden cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 596,760 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 12,340 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.3% of Forsta AP Fonden's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $393,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use 'Faceprint' Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US 'trade action'
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at $2,481,290.47. The trade was a 11.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% 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. Insiders have sold 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $593.00 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $618.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $636.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. 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 $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

About Meta Platforms

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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