Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Legacy Capital Group California Inc.

Key Points

• Legacy Capital Group California Inc. reduced its Meta Platforms stake by 39.3% in the first quarter, selling 1,713 shares and ending with 2,644 shares worth about $1.51 million.
• Meta reported a strong quarterly update, with $10.44 EPS beating estimates by a wide margin and revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33.1% from a year earlier.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish, with the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of about $830.45, while Meta also continues to face some legal and reputational scrutiny tied to AI-related layoffs.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 39.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,644 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,713 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.6% of Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Bayban grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $646.01 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The business's fifty day moving average price is $603.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $627.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859. 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 is reportedly in early talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion. Investors view that as a possible new revenue stream that would help Meta monetize its AI infrastructure and validate demand for its computing capacity. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also unveiled its newest AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, and the company is reportedly considering a broader cloud push. Together, those moves reinforce the idea that Meta can turn heavy AI spending into products and services that generate returns. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Meta’s earnings outlook, with Erste Group raising its FY2027 EPS estimate and maintaining a Buy rating. That adds to the bullish case heading into the next earnings report. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A federal judge declined to block Meta from laying off workers who filed an AI discrimination lawsuit. The ruling removes an immediate legal obstacle, but the underlying claims over alleged bias in AI-driven job cuts still create headline risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing scrutiny from employees over AI-assisted layoffs, with allegations that its tools discriminated against protected groups. That could keep legal and reputational pressure on the stock. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $767.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $830.45.

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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