Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Has $4.55 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC cut its Meta stake by 10% in the first quarter, selling 887 shares and ending with 7,960 shares valued at about $4.55 million.
• Meta’s latest earnings were strong, with EPS of $10.44 and revenue of $56.31 billion, both ahead of expectations and up 33.1% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of about $835.64, even as some firms raised or lowered targets.

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,960 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 887 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $55,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $595.19 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $604.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $625.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business's 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 directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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