Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s 7th Largest Position

Key Points

• Adams Diversified Equity Fund cut its Meta stake by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, but Meta still remained its 7th-largest holding at 2.5% of the portfolio, valued at about $75.6 million.
• Other major institutional investors, including Vanguard, State Street, and Geode Capital, increased their positions, and overall institutional ownership in Meta stands at 79.91%.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings expectations with $10.44 EPS on $56.31 billion in revenue, while also highlighting AI infrastructure expansion, a new India partnership, and the launch of Instagram Plus as potential growth drivers.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,600 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 8,900 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.5% of Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $75,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in 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 buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in 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 buying an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,553,102 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,788,429,000 after buying an additional 823,883 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $566.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $621.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $635.89. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

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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