Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management reduced its Meta Platforms stake by 5.5% in the first quarter, selling 1,067 shares and leaving it with 18,250 shares valued at about $10.4 million.
• Meta continues to attract heavy institutional ownership, with firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Geode adding to positions; overall, institutions own 79.91% of the company.
• Wall Street remains broadly upbeat on Meta thanks to strong ad demand and AI momentum, with analysts expecting a beat on second-quarter results and a consensus price target of about $830.45.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,250 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,067 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Meta to beat second-quarter estimates, citing healthy ad demand and AI-related improvements, with Q2 revenue now seen at $60.6 billion and EPS at $7.50 versus consensus of $60.2 billion and $7.18. Meta Platforms expected to top earnings estimates as ad growth remains healthy, says BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by reports that Meta could monetize its AI buildout more directly, including a potential large-scale computing deal with Anthropic, which could help justify its heavy capex and reduce valuation pressure. Zuckerberg Is Quietly Turning Meta Into A Compute Provider Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s $12 billion financing for new Meta data centers in Texas underscores strong outside confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy and signals continued investment in future capacity. BlackRock Leads $12 Billion Financing for New Meta Data Centers in Texas
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s expanding AI ambitions and “compute provider” strategy reinforces the bullish AI narrative, but the market is still waiting for proof that the spending will translate into durable returns. Meta's AI Ambitions Keep Expanding. Is META Stock Keeping Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta faces a Tennessee trial over claims Instagram was designed to be addictive, adding headline risk and potential legal overhang for the stock. Meta faces Tennessee trial over allegations Instagram was designed to be addictive
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of temporary Facebook and Instagram outages may add near-term frustration for users and advertisers, though the impact appears more operational than fundamental. Users of Meta's Facebook, Instagram report suffering some outages

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 a total of 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of META opened at $645.85 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $604.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $626.63. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $830.45.

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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