Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP

Key Points

• Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP increased its Meta Platforms stake by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, adding 6,276 shares to bring its total to 107,457 shares worth about $70.9 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with several firms reiterating buy-like ratings and MarketBeat showing a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $10.44 versus expectations of $6.67 and revenue of $56.31 billion, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 107,457 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,276 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.0% of Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $70,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings 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 valued at $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,553,102 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,788,429,000 after buying an additional 823,883 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $900.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. The trade was a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $526,715.73. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at $8,171,959.94. The trade was a 6.06% 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 ninety days, insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $566.98 on Friday. 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 one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $621.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $635.89.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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 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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