Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Cut by F m Investments LLC

Key Points

• F m Investments LLC trimmed its Meta stake by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 1,162 shares and leaving it with 85,652 shares worth about $56.5 million. Meta remains one of the fund’s larger holdings, representing roughly 2.1% of its portfolio.
• Meta’s fundamentals remain strong, with the company reporting quarterly EPS of $10.44 versus $6.67 expected and revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33.1% year over year. Analysts still expect the company to post strong full-year earnings, though several price targets were recently lowered.
• Investor sentiment is mixed amid heavy AI spending and layoffs. While some news highlighted positive momentum in ads, AI, and advertiser partnerships, Meta is also laying off about 8,000 employees and reorganizing staff toward AI, raising concerns about costs and margins.

F m Investments LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,652 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,162 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.1% of F m Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. F m Investments LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $56,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI and advertising strategy still appears to be generating real business results, with one analysis pointing to strong ad impressions, higher ad prices, and continued revenue growth that could help justify its heavy capital spending. Meta's Selloff Looks Like A Major Misread
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced new parental supervision tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Horizon, which could support trust and platform engagement over time. Meta's new tools allow parents to better supervise their kids' social media accounts. Will they work?
• Positive Sentiment: Zefr said it is deepening its partnership with Meta by adding AI-powered pre-bid controls to Threads, a sign that advertisers continue building on Meta’s newer products. Zefr Deepens Meta Partnership, Bringing AI-Powered Pre-Bid Controls to Threads Feed
• Neutral Sentiment: Several hedge-fund filings showed mixed investor sentiment, with some managers adding to Meta while others trimmed stakes, offering no clear single-direction signal for the shares. Tiger Global boosts Meta Platforms stake by 336,249 shares
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is starting layoffs affecting about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, and expects the cuts to roll out in waves this week and possibly continue later in the year. Meta layoffs starting this week stress harsh AI reality inside Zuckerberg's company
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is reorganizing 7,000 employees toward AI and telling workers to stay remote during the layoff process reinforce fears that rising AI investment is creating pressure on headcount and margins. Meta Reassigns 7,000 Employees to Focus on A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s “brutal” AI spending and large-scale job cuts is fueling concern that capital expenditures are getting too large before investors see enough return. Meta's 8,000 Job Cuts To Foot The $145B AI Bill

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $908.00 to $865.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,971 shares of company stock worth $101,676,729. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $611.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $621.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $638.95. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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