Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Purchased by Ally Financial Inc.

Ally Financial Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 315.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.2% of Ally Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Ally Financial Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Key Stories 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% 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. In the last quarter, 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 Stock Down 0.3%

META opened at $566.98 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $621.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $635.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during 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%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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