Foundry Financial LLC Purchases 1,934 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Foundry Financial LLC boosted its Meta Platforms stake by 164.7% in the first quarter, buying 1,934 additional shares and bringing its total to 3,108 shares valued at about $1.78 million.
• Analysts remain generally constructive on Meta, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $840.60, even though a few firms recently trimmed targets or downgraded the stock.
• Meta’s latest quarter topped expectations, with EPS of $10.44 versus $6.67 expected and revenue up 33.1% year over year, while the company also paid its quarterly dividend and continues to face a child-safety lawsuit over Facebook and Instagram.

Foundry Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 164.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,108 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,934 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Foundry Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Foundry Financial LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hofer & Associates. Inc lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the first quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 1,837 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.8% during the first quarter. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $364,000. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the first quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 8,354 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,780,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Benchmark began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is developing a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity and AI model access lifted the stock, since it could turn prior AI spending into near-term revenue and reduce reliance on ads.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction has been broadly constructive, with traders rotating into Meta while some AI infrastructure rivals sold off on fears of new competition from a company with major scale and cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also named Alex Schultz as its first chief data officer and promoted Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, a management change aimed at improving data-driven decision-making in the AI era.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity showed traders positioning for more upside, reinforcing the market’s bullish tone but not changing the fundamental story by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $612.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company's fifty day moving average price is $606.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $628.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms 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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