PFG Investments LLC Has $24.59 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• PFG Investments LLC trimmed its Meta stake by 3.1% in the first quarter, selling 1,369 shares and ending with 42,972 shares worth about $24.59 million. Meta remained its 13th-largest holding and represented roughly 1.1% of the portfolio.
• Meta continues to draw strong analyst support, with most firms rating it a Buy or better and MarketBeat showing an average Moderate Buy rating with a $840.64 price target. Several analysts recently lowered targets, but sentiment remains broadly positive.
• The company posted strong first-quarter results, reporting EPS of $10.44 versus expectations of $6.67 and revenue of $56.31 billion, up 33.1% year over year. Meta also announced a small quarterly dividend and remains heavily owned by institutions.

PFG Investments LLC decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,972 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,369 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of PFG Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. PFG Investments LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bayban boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.64.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% 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 have sold 44,748 shares of company stock valued at $27,565,292. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $603.12 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $598.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $626.99. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 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 twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced it will spend more than C$13 billion on its first AI data center in Canada, its largest outside the U.S. Investors may see this as a signal that Meta is still aggressively scaling its AI infrastructure to support future products and monetization. Meta plans billions for first AI data center in Canada, largest outside the US
• Positive Sentiment: Meta rolled out Muse Image, its first AI image-generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, which could improve engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Meta AI while giving advertisers new creative tools. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and analyst notes highlighted Meta as an attractive AI and momentum stock, including a rating upgrade to Buy from Erste Group Bank and bullish commentary around its long-term growth and capex strategy. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Raised to "Buy" at Erste Group Bank
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s move to potentially monetize excess compute capacity or expand into cloud/neocloud services is strategically interesting, but it is still an early-stage idea and not yet a proven earnings driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking about $1.4 trillion in penalties in an upcoming youth-safety trial, creating a very large legal risk that could weigh on investor sentiment. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reporting on Instagram AI sharing rules and other regulatory scrutiny adds to concerns about privacy, content use, and platform oversight.
• Negative Sentiment: Comments from Mark Zuckerberg that AI agent development “hasn't really accelerated” as expected may also raise questions about the near-term payoff from Meta’s heavy AI spending.

Meta Platforms Company 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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