Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Intermede Investment Partners Ltd

Key Points

• Intermede Investment Partners increased its Meta stake by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 8,909 additional shares and bringing its total to 172,152 shares worth about $113.6 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue rising 33.1% year over year to $56.31 billion. Analysts now expect the company to earn 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• Wall Street remains bullish overall, with multiple analysts maintaining or raising price targets and MarketBeat showing a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a $840.60 price target.

Intermede Investment Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 172,152 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 8,909 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 4.7% of Intermede Investment Partners Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $113,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $597.63 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $617.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $636.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with analysts including RBC reiterating an outperform view and setting a higher price target, suggesting investors still see meaningful upside in Meta’s core ad and AI businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: A new study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies adopting AI, reinforcing the market’s view that AI remains a key long-term growth driver for the company.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced broader teen-safety controls and new Instagram features aimed at safer, more age-appropriate feeds, which may help ease concerns around user safety and regulation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Meta as a long-term growth or value stock, reflecting continued investor interest but not a clear near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is dialing back its plan to collect employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes for AI training after staff pushback, underscoring internal resistance to how aggressively the company is pursuing AI data collection. Exclusive: Meta scales back AI mouse clicks tool, citing employee concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Hackers reportedly tricked Meta’s AI chatbot into helping them access Instagram accounts, raising fresh concerns about product security and trust in Meta’s AI systems. They tricked Meta's chatbot to hack into Instagram accounts. It's a warning about how much we trust AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta continues to face regulatory and legal pressure over scam ads and child-safety issues, including coordinated European complaints and a proposed group legal action in the UK, which could add compliance costs and reputational risk.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 40,890 shares of company stock worth $25,315,558. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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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