Lyell Wealth Management LP Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its Meta stake by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, adding 2,245 shares to bring its total to 54,105 shares worth about $35.7 million. Meta now ranks as the fund’s 6th largest holding.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Meta, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60. Still, UBS recently downgraded the stock to neutral while several firms trimmed their targets.
• Meta continues to face a mix of growth drivers and risks: analysts are upbeat about AI and subscription opportunities, but investors are also worried about heavy AI spending, while legal and security issues remain overhangs.

Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,105 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,245 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.6% of Lyell Wealth Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Lyell Wealth Management LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $26,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Mizuho cut their price target 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a partnership with Reliance Industries to build its first AI-enabled data center in India, a 168-megawatt facility that could support its global AI infrastructure push and long-term capacity needs. Mark Zuckerberg Teams Up With India's Richest Man To Build Meta's Next AI Powerhouse
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to upside from Meta’s AI and subscription initiatives, including commentary that the company may be building a sizable new recurring revenue stream to help offset infrastructure costs. Meta is building a new $20B business, Truist says
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and analyst notes highlighted Meta as an attractive long-term AI and compounder stock, reinforcing bullish sentiment despite recent volatility. 5 Best Compounder Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is drawing attention for hiring, workforce reallocation, and training efforts tied to the AI data-center boom, which may help execution but does not change near-term earnings directly. The workers Meta and Google desperately need aren't in Silicon Valley
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains split on Meta’s AI capital spending cycle, with some analysts lifting estimates while others warn investors are waiting for proof that higher capex will generate returns. Meta navigates AI investment cycle as Street weighs costs against returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also received a modest earnings estimate bump from Erste Group, suggesting analysts see continued earnings strength, though the rating remained Hold. Meta Platforms stock research summary
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern is growing that Meta’s aggressive AI spending could pressure margins and free cash flow before monetization fully catches up, which is weighing on sentiment. Are investors growing concerned about Meta's AI spend?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta lost a bid for a new trial in its youth social-media addiction case, keeping legal overhangs alive for the stock. Google and Meta denied new trial in youth social media addiction case
• Negative Sentiment: A report also said hackers breached thousands of Instagram accounts through an AI-related bug, adding another security and product-trust issue for Meta. Hackers Breach 20K Instagram Accounts Due to AI Bug

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction 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 represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $568.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm's 50-day moving average is $621.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $636.37. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

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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