Private Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 2,827 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Private Capital Advisors Inc. increased its Meta Platforms stake by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, adding 2,827 shares to bring its total to 35,138 shares worth about $23.2 million.
• Meta continues to draw strong institutional interest, with hedge funds and asset managers holding 79.91% of the stock, even as some insiders have recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.
• The company posted a strong quarter, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and analysts remain broadly positive with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $840.60.

Private Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,138 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,827 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of Private Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Private Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 77,523 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $51,195,000 after purchasing an additional 9,454 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,030 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $47,546,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $408,695,000. Pathfinder Wealth Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,378,000. Finally, Carroll Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 is accessible through this hyperlink. 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, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 40,890 shares of company stock valued at $25,315,558 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with analysts including RBC reiterating an outperform view and setting a higher price target, suggesting investors still see meaningful upside in Meta’s core ad and AI businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: A new study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies adopting AI, reinforcing the market’s view that AI remains a key long-term growth driver for the company.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced broader teen-safety controls and new Instagram features aimed at safer, more age-appropriate feeds, which may help ease concerns around user safety and regulation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Meta as a long-term growth or value stock, reflecting continued investor interest but not a clear near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is dialing back its plan to collect employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes for AI training after staff pushback, underscoring internal resistance to how aggressively the company is pursuing AI data collection. Exclusive: Meta scales back AI mouse clicks tool, citing employee concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Hackers reportedly tricked Meta’s AI chatbot into helping them access Instagram accounts, raising fresh concerns about product security and trust in Meta’s AI systems. They tricked Meta's chatbot to hack into Instagram accounts. It's a warning about how much we trust AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta continues to face regulatory and legal pressure over scam ads and child-safety issues, including coordinated European complaints and a proposed group legal action in the UK, which could add compliance costs and reputational risk.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered 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 report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $597.63 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $617.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $636.73. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

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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