Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Braun Stacey Associates Inc.

Key Points

• Braun Stacey Associates Inc. trimmed its Meta Platforms stake by 3.2% in Q1, selling 3,505 shares and leaving it with 106,264 shares worth about $60.8 million. Meta remained its 9th-largest holding.
• Meta reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue of $56.31 billion topping expectations. Revenue rose 33.1% year over year, and analysts still expect full-year EPS of 29.35.
• The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, while insider selling continued, including sales by director Robert M. Kimmitt and COO Javier Olivan. Insiders sold 39,013 shares over the last 90 days.

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 106,264 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,505 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.0% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $60,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $612.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company's 50-day moving average price is $606.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $628.95.

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 firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. The business's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This trade represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,707,600. This trade represents a 1.08% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is developing a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity and AI model access lifted the stock, since it could turn prior AI spending into near-term revenue and reduce reliance on ads.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction has been broadly constructive, with traders rotating into Meta while some AI infrastructure rivals sold off on fears of new competition from a company with major scale and cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also named Alex Schultz as its first chief data officer and promoted Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, a management change aimed at improving data-driven decision-making in the AI era.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity showed traders positioning for more upside, reinforcing the market’s bullish tone but not changing the fundamental story by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price target on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

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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