Keybank National Association OH Purchases 8,871 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Keybank National Association OH increased its Meta Platforms stake by 6.6% in the first quarter, buying 8,871 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 142,669 shares valued at about $81.6 million.
• Meta is getting a lift from positive analyst sentiment, including an upgrade from Erste Group Bank to buy and a reiterated buy rating from Truist Securities with an $840 price target.
• The company also showed strong operating momentum, with its latest quarterly results beating EPS and revenue expectations and revenue rising 33.1% year over year, even as some executives recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

Keybank National Association OH increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 142,669 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,871 shares during the quarter. Keybank National Association OH's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Bayban boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool inside Meta AI for consumers and businesses. The rollout could help increase engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps, while giving advertisers and creators a new reason to use Meta’s ecosystem. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, adding to bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Raised to "Buy" at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities also reiterated a Buy view and an $840 price target, reinforcing the case that Wall Street still sees meaningful upside in META.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $600.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $627.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 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.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.64.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

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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