Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC opened a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter, buying 3,012 shares valued at about $1.99 million. The stake represents roughly 1.0% of its portfolio and is its 25th-largest holding.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with 79.91% of Meta shares held by hedge funds and other institutions. Several other firms also added to or initiated positions in META during the period.
• Meta insiders have been selling shares, including CTO Andrew Bosworth and COO Javier Olivan, though the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans. Analysts remain broadly positive overall, with Meta carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of about $840.60.

Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,012 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,988,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.0% of Green Ridge Wealth Planning LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Advisortrust Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,293,000. PeakShares LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,737,000. Audent Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Audent Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,426 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Rubicon Advisors GP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,409,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,131,151 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $746,985,000 after purchasing an additional 201,632 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. UBS Group lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remains constructive on Meta’s long-term AI strategy, with Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney naming META one of the best “Magnificent 7” stock buys, reinforcing the view that the stock may still offer upside after its recent pullback. Article: Famous Wall Street Tech Analyst Names Meta and Amazon the Best Magnificent 7 Stock Buys Today
• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to expand its AI infrastructure, including new computing deals with Crusoe and a strategic data-center partnership in India, which supports the company’s long-term AI capacity and monetization plans. Article: Meta signs new AI computing deals with data center firm Crusoe
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also drew favorable attention for rolling out new AI features for Facebook creators and broader AI tools that could deepen engagement and create new ad products over time. Article: Meta Platforms Rolls Out New AI Features On Facebook For Content Creators
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to get attention for its cloud-computing ambitions, but that move is still viewed as a longer-term optionality story rather than an immediate earnings driver. Article: Meta and Cloud Computing: Real Potential, or a Shot in the Dark?
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s strong last reported quarter and upcoming dividend remain supportive, but these are already well known and are not the main catalysts behind today’s trading. Article: META stock and company profile
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment was hurt by reports that a senior AI executive is leaving Meta during a major AI transition, raising execution concerns at a time when the company is trying to accelerate its artificial intelligence roadmap. Article: Meta head of product for 'AI for work' transformation is leaving company
• Negative Sentiment: Meta was also hit by reports that attackers exploited its AI-powered support chatbot to take over high-profile Instagram accounts, adding security and trust concerns around its AI tools and platform controls. Article: Meta faces AI support breach as key internal AI executive exits
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing regulatory and legal pressure, including a Washington high court decision upholding a $35 million campaign finance penalty, which adds to headline risk. Article: Washington high court upholds $35 million campaign finance penalty against Meta

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $577.22 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $621.27 and a 200 day moving average of $634.10.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's 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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