FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,445 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 858 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,191,175,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $813,994,000. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,998 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting 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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This represents a 11.33% 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 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $593.00 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $618.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $636.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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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