Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Axxcess Wealth Management LLC reduced its Meta Platforms stake by 20.8% in the first quarter, selling 13,248 shares and leaving it with 50,466 shares valued at about $28.8 million.
• Meta continues to see mixed analyst sentiment: UBS kept a buy rating but lowered its price target to $766, while Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell. Overall, the consensus remains Moderate Buy with a $835.90 target.
• The company reported strong recent results, with EPS of $10.44 and revenue of $56.31 billion, both ahead of expectations. Meta also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, though its yield remains low at 0.3%.

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 20.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,466 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 13,248 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.9% of Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $835.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ META opened at $656.73 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company's fifty day moving average price is $599.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $626.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.25.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS kept a buy rating on Meta while lowering its price target to $766 from $865, implying meaningful upside from current levels and signaling analysts still see room for gains despite recent volatility.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted Meta’s expanded AI ambitions, including a major scale-up of its Louisiana Hyperion data center to 5 gigawatts and more than $50 billion in projected cost, reinforcing the company’s commitment to AI infrastructure and long-term growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary framed Meta as one of the strongest mega-cap AI stories, citing its ability to fund AI investment with a profitable ad business and noting that its new AI model is priced well below rivals, which could help adoption.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports focused on technical factors, saying META looked overbought and near resistance, which may be contributing to short-term weakness rather than reflecting a change in fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing concerns that Meta’s AI spending is rising fast, with 2026 capex now expected at $125 billion to $145 billion, raising questions about near-term returns on investment and pressuring sentiment.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta pulled down an AI image tool after privacy backlash, and the company is facing criticism over AI advertising tools that allegedly create poor results for brands, adding reputational and regulatory noise.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional headlines noted a Chinese regulatory setback on a planned AI acquisition and an EU probe into Facebook and Instagram design features, which could increase legal and compliance uncertainty.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 3,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,083 shares of company stock valued at $24,628,719. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms 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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