Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 1,295 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC increased its Meta Platforms stake by 8.4% in the first quarter, buying 1,295 shares and bringing its total to 16,785 shares worth about $9.6 million.
• Meta continues to draw strong institutional interest, with 79.91% of shares held by institutional investors. Several other funds also added to positions, while analysts maintain a generally bullish view with a Moderate Buy consensus and a price target of $840.64.
• Despite positive analyst sentiment and strong recent earnings, insiders have been selling shares, including CTO Andrew Bosworth and CFO Susan J. Li. Meta also faces debate over whether its heavy AI spending will drive future growth or take longer to pay off.

Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,785 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.3% of Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Foundry Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the first quarter. Foundry Financial Group Inc. now owns 558 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,936 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,540,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 626 Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. 626 Financial LLC now owns 862 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 898 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% 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. Insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 over the last three months. 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 is being viewed more favorably by some analysts because its AI-powered ads are reportedly improving advertiser returns, which supports revenue growth and suggests its AI spending is starting to pay off. Meta's Capex Is Paying Off, But The Market Doesn't Care
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta may rent out excess GPU capacity and build a cloud-computing business are boosting sentiment, since investors see a potential new monetization avenue beyond digital advertising. Meta's push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s broader AI strategy is also getting support from bullish coverage that argues the company is chasing a huge enterprise AI-compute opportunity and could eventually re-rate higher if execution improves. Senior Analyst: Meta Is Chasing A $2 Trillion AI Compute Opportunity, But It's Years Behind
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta remains a highly followed stock, with traders and analysts continuing to debate whether its AI investment cycle will translate into sustainable earnings growth or just higher spending. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Negative Sentiment: Zuckerberg also acknowledged that Meta’s AI agents are progressing slower than expected, which reinforces investor concerns that some of the company’s ambitious AI initiatives may take longer to monetize. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Negative Sentiment: India reportedly asked Meta to delay its WhatsApp username rollout over fraud concerns, creating a potential regulatory hurdle for one of Meta’s most important messaging growth initiatives. India asks Meta to hold WhatsApp username rollout over fraud fears

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $582.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $602.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $628.20. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

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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