Griffith & Werner Inc. Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Griffith & Werner Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,776 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.3% of Griffith & Werner Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Griffith & Werner Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $835.90.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s upcoming Q2 earnings release on July 29 should provide a fresh read on revenue growth, profitability, and the payoff from its AI investments. Meta to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and media continue to debate Meta’s valuation and long-term AI strategy, with some arguing the stock remains attractive while others say spending is getting ahead of near-term returns. Meta Platforms is Overvalued at 5.92X PS: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces a lawsuit alleging its AI-based layoff process discriminated against employees on approved leave, which could add legal costs and hurt investor sentiment around its AI deployment practices. Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, former employees' lawsuit claims

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $661.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company's 50 day moving average price is $600.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $626.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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