Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by IPG Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• IPG Investment Advisors LLC cut its Meta Platforms stake by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,207 shares and leaving it with 16,296 shares valued at about $10.76 million.
• Meta reported strong first-quarter results, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates of $6.67 and revenue of $56.31 billion topping expectations, while revenue jumped 33.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive but have mixed price targets: Meta has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average target of $840.60, while the stock recently traded around $593 and insiders have also been selling shares.

IPG Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,296 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 4,207 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.9% of IPG Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. IPG Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Susquehanna raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $618.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $636.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for 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%.Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,860 shares of company stock valued at $26,555,260. Corporate 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:

• Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use 'Faceprint' Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US 'trade action'
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.