Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Avantax Planning Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Avantax Planning Partners trimmed its Meta stake by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 821 shares and leaving it with 6,551 shares valued at about $4.32 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates by a wide margin and revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on META, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $840.19, even as the company faces ongoing legal risk and insider stock sales.

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,551 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 821 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $1,191,175,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $813,994,000. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 948.7% during the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 1,124,998 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $610.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $617.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $637.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 152,728 shares of company stock valued at $96,925,217 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched a standalone “Forum” app for Facebook Groups, signaling a new product push that could deepen user engagement and add pressure to competitors like Reddit. Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is cutting jobs and shifting resources toward AI, which investors may view as an efficiency move that supports long-term profit margins and keeps the company focused on its biggest growth area. Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Boosts AI Team: What This Means for Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also settled a school-district lawsuit over alleged social media addiction harms, removing one legal overhang, though the broader regulatory and litigation risk around its platforms remains. Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Meta’s dual-class control structure, insider share sales, and broader AI spending debate are adding to the narrative, but they are less likely to drive the stock on their own than the new app launch and workforce reshaping.
• Negative Sentiment: The Texas attorney general’s lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp over encryption and privacy claims adds another legal risk for investors to monitor. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams
• Negative Sentiment: Competition concerns are also in focus after Meta’s Forum app appeared to pressure Reddit shares, reinforcing worries that Meta’s scale lets it copy or crowd out rival social platforms.

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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