Maridea Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,630 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Maridea Wealth Management cut its Meta Platforms stake by 26.6% in the first quarter, selling 2,630 shares and leaving it with 7,266 shares valued at about $4.16 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue of $56.31 billion topping expectations; revenue also rose 33.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain mostly positive overall despite some recent downgrades, with Meta carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $840.60.

Maridea Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 26.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,266 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,630 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $564.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $607.50 and a 200 day moving average of $629.23. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to draw bullish commentary from analysts and investors who view it as a strong long-term growth story, with some recent coverage calling it a market favorite and one of billionaire Dan Loeb’s preferred growth holdings.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is rolling out a cheaper new line of smart glasses, starting at $299, support the company’s push beyond social media into wearable AI hardware and could broaden adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: One recent article argued Meta has clear AI-driven upside over the next several years, reinforcing the view that its scale, ad business, and AI investments could support higher earnings over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building a standalone prediction-market app, which could create a new product category, but it remains early and its financial impact is unclear.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader “Magnificent 7” weakness has weighed on mega-cap tech stocks overall, adding a market-level headwind even for companies with strong fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: The lawsuit ruling in the Facebook and Instagram addiction case keeps legal exposure alive and could increase uncertainty around Meta’s platform practices and future costs. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta loses bid to toss lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram addict children

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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