Legacy Edge Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,370 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Legacy Edge Advisors disclosed a new position in Meta Platforms, buying 2,370 shares in the fourth quarter valued at about $1.56 million.
• Institutional interest in Meta remains strong overall, with major firms like Vanguard, State Street, and others increasing their stakes; institutions and hedge funds now own 79.91% of the stock.
• Insider selling has been notable, including sales by COO Javier Olivan and CFO Susan J. Li, while analysts still broadly rate Meta a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $840.31.

Legacy Edge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,370 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,564,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in 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. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after acquiring an additional 278,180 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $12,597,374,000 after acquiring an additional 142,229 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,332,168 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,525,258,000 after acquiring an additional 558,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 169,231 shares of company stock valued at $108,239,954. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (down from $880.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $840.31.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding WhatsApp’s privacy tools with a new “incognito” mode for AI chats, which could help ease user concerns and support adoption of its AI features. Reuters article on WhatsApp incognito mode
• Positive Sentiment: The company also introduced more private messaging and sharing products, including an Instagram feature and additional AI privacy controls, which may help strengthen engagement and user trust over time. CNET article on Instagram Instants
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is reportedly preparing to monetize WhatsApp more aggressively through a premium subscription model, which could eventually add high-margin recurring revenue, but the financial impact is still speculative. Seeking Alpha article on WhatsApp Plus
• Negative Sentiment: Santa Clara County filed a lawsuit accusing Meta of profiting from scam ads on Facebook and Instagram, adding to concerns that the company may face restitution, damages, and stricter oversight of its ad systems. Business Wire article on Santa Clara County complaint
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Meta is challenging New Mexico’s proposed $3.7 billion remedy in the teen mental health trial, underscoring the scale of potential liabilities from social media-related lawsuits. Reuters article on New Mexico trial
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports said Meta lost a court fight in Italy over paying publishers for news snippets, reinforcing that international regulation could create additional costs and legal pressure. Reuters article on Italian publishers ruling

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $616.63 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $623.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $641.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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