Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,052 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 892 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $876,000. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $84,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,707,600. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at $2,481,290.47. This represents a 11.33% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Key Stories Impacting 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.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Stock Up 8.8%
Shares of META stock opened at $612.91 on Thursday. 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 quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business's fifty day moving average is $606.34 and its 200-day moving average is $628.95. The stock 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.
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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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