Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Purchased by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Key Points

• Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its Meta Platforms stake by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, ending with 54,355 shares valued at about $35.9 million.
• Wall Street remains generally bullish on Meta, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $840.60, even as several analysts trimmed their targets slightly.
• Meta’s latest earnings beat expectations, posting $10.44 EPS on $56.31 billion in revenue, while the company also continues to draw attention for its aggressive AI investment push and new data-center plans in India.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,355 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,566 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Susquehanna upgraded Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at $8,171,959.94. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a partnership with Reliance Industries to build its first AI-enabled data center in India, a 168-megawatt facility that could support its global AI infrastructure push and long-term capacity needs. Mark Zuckerberg Teams Up With India's Richest Man To Build Meta's Next AI Powerhouse
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to upside from Meta’s AI and subscription initiatives, including commentary that the company may be building a sizable new recurring revenue stream to help offset infrastructure costs. Meta is building a new $20B business, Truist says
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and analyst notes highlighted Meta as an attractive long-term AI and compounder stock, reinforcing bullish sentiment despite recent volatility. 5 Best Compounder Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is drawing attention for hiring, workforce reallocation, and training efforts tied to the AI data-center boom, which may help execution but does not change near-term earnings directly. The workers Meta and Google desperately need aren't in Silicon Valley
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains split on Meta’s AI capital spending cycle, with some analysts lifting estimates while others warn investors are waiting for proof that higher capex will generate returns. Meta navigates AI investment cycle as Street weighs costs against returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also received a modest earnings estimate bump from Erste Group, suggesting analysts see continued earnings strength, though the rating remained Hold. Meta Platforms stock research summary
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern is growing that Meta’s aggressive AI spending could pressure margins and free cash flow before monetization fully catches up, which is weighing on sentiment. Are investors growing concerned about Meta's AI spend?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta lost a bid for a new trial in its youth social-media addiction case, keeping legal overhangs alive for the stock. Google and Meta denied new trial in youth social media addiction case
• Negative Sentiment: A report also said hackers breached thousands of Instagram accounts through an AI-related bug, adding another security and product-trust issue for Meta. Hackers Breach 20K Instagram Accounts Due to AI Bug

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $568.43 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average is $621.39 and its 200-day moving average is $636.37. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

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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