Hilltop Holdings Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Hilltop Holdings Inc. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 58.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,494 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 11,735 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 37,859 shares of company stock valued at $23,087,979 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Meta’s advertising business to benefit from higher impressions, stronger user engagement and AI-powered ad targeting. Consensus expectations call for approximately $60.2 billion in revenue and $7.18 in earnings per share, while traders anticipate a sizable post-earnings move. Will Higher Ad Revenues Aid Meta Platforms Stock in Q2 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its buy rating and assigned an $800 price target, implying substantial upside from recent levels. Meta’s comparatively modest valuation and history of earnings beats could support the shares if results and guidance exceed expectations. Guggenheim rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and BlackRock formed an approximately $14 billion venture to develop a one-gigawatt AI data-center campus in El Paso, Texas. The 80/20 structure brings outside capital into Meta’s infrastructure expansion and may reduce near-term balance-sheet pressure while securing future computing capacity. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to emphasize Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and its broader AI strategy on the earnings call. It also joined Nvidia, Alphabet and OpenAI in supporting open-weight AI models, potentially influencing future product development and regulation. Meta likely to highlight smart glasses
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are increasingly concerned that AI capital expenditures—potentially reaching $125 billion to $145 billion—will compress margins and weaken free cash flow before Meta develops a direct AI revenue stream. Alphabet’s higher spending forecast has intensified skepticism toward hyperscaler stocks. Hyperscalers face higher capex scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces ongoing lawsuits alleging harm to teenagers and inadequate safeguards against abuse on its platforms, creating potential financial liabilities and reputational damage. COO Javier Olivan also sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, although insider selling is not necessarily a bearish signal. Meta disregarded its own research on teen harm

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.41 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $603.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $624.67. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.51 earnings per share 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 0.4%. 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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