Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Sells 3,661 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Marks Group Wealth Management reduced its Meta Platforms stake by 14.5% in the first quarter, selling 3,661 shares and leaving it with 21,595 shares valued at about $12.4 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue of $56.31 billion topping expectations, while revenue grew 33.1% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Meta has a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $830.45, even as some recent price targets were trimmed and insiders continued selling shares.

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,595 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,661 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.2% of Marks Group Wealth Management Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $645.85 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $604.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $626.63. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $767.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $830.45.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Meta to beat second-quarter estimates, citing healthy ad demand and AI-related improvements, with Q2 revenue now seen at $60.6 billion and EPS at $7.50 versus consensus of $60.2 billion and $7.18. Meta Platforms expected to top earnings estimates as ad growth remains healthy, says BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by reports that Meta could monetize its AI buildout more directly, including a potential large-scale computing deal with Anthropic, which could help justify its heavy capex and reduce valuation pressure. Zuckerberg Is Quietly Turning Meta Into A Compute Provider Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s $12 billion financing for new Meta data centers in Texas underscores strong outside confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy and signals continued investment in future capacity. BlackRock Leads $12 Billion Financing for New Meta Data Centers in Texas
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s expanding AI ambitions and “compute provider” strategy reinforces the bullish AI narrative, but the market is still waiting for proof that the spending will translate into durable returns. Meta's AI Ambitions Keep Expanding. Is META Stock Keeping Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta faces a Tennessee trial over claims Instagram was designed to be addictive, adding headline risk and potential legal overhang for the stock. Meta faces Tennessee trial over allegations Instagram was designed to be addictive
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of temporary Facebook and Instagram outages may add near-term frustration for users and advertisers, though the impact appears more operational than fundamental. Users of Meta's Facebook, Instagram report suffering some outages

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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