Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Optas LLC

Key Points

• Optas LLC increased its Meta stake by 11.2% in the first quarter, buying 1,238 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 12,257 shares worth about $7.0 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish on META, with recent upgrades and Buy ratings from firms like Erste Group Bank and Truist Securities; the consensus price target is around $840.64.
• Meta posted strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates with EPS of $10.44 and revenue of $56.31 billion, while revenue rose 33.1% year over year.

Optas LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,257 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Optas LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Optas LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool inside Meta AI for consumers and businesses. The rollout could help increase engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps, while giving advertisers and creators a new reason to use Meta’s ecosystem. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, adding to bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Raised to "Buy" at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities also reiterated a Buy view and an $840 price target, reinforcing the case that Wall Street still sees meaningful upside in META.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on META shares. Guggenheim cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's 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 in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $600.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $627.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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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