Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its Meta Platforms stake by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,211 shares and leaving it with 153,970 shares valued at about $101.6 million.
• Meta reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $10.44 versus the $6.67 estimate and revenue of $56.31 billion, with sales up 33.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on META despite some price-target cuts, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $840.19.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,970 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,211 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $101,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the 4th 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 stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

META stock opened at $610.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $617.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $637.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Argus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $840.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders have sold 152,728 shares of company stock worth $96,925,217. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched a standalone “Forum” app for Facebook Groups, signaling a new product push that could deepen user engagement and add pressure to competitors like Reddit. Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is cutting jobs and shifting resources toward AI, which investors may view as an efficiency move that supports long-term profit margins and keeps the company focused on its biggest growth area. Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Boosts AI Team: What This Means for Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also settled a school-district lawsuit over alleged social media addiction harms, removing one legal overhang, though the broader regulatory and litigation risk around its platforms remains. Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Meta’s dual-class control structure, insider share sales, and broader AI spending debate are adding to the narrative, but they are less likely to drive the stock on their own than the new app launch and workforce reshaping.
• Negative Sentiment: The Texas attorney general’s lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp over encryption and privacy claims adds another legal risk for investors to monitor. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams
• Negative Sentiment: Competition concerns are also in focus after Meta’s Forum app appeared to pressure Reddit shares, reinforcing worries that Meta’s scale lets it copy or crowd out rival social platforms.

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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