Root Financial Partners LLC Sells 1,349 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Root Financial Partners reduced its Meta stake by 13.2% in the first quarter, selling 1,349 shares and leaving it with 8,847 shares valued at about $5.06 million.
• Analyst sentiment is still broadly positive: Meta has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a target price of $840.64, though some firms recently cut ratings or price targets.
• Meta’s fundamentals remain strong, with Q1 earnings of $10.44 per share beating estimates and revenue rising 33.1% year over year, even as the stock faces notable insider selling and legal/regulatory overhangs.

Root Financial Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,847 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,349 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bayban boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 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

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wedbush raised Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $840.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $11.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $611.78. 2,567,146 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,495,410. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $601.61 and a 200-day moving average of $627.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors 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 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank AG upgraded Meta Platforms from “hold” to “buy,” a supportive signal that can lift investor confidence in the stock. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META Raised to "Buy" at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Meta was also highlighted in multiple “best ideas” and bullish commentary pieces, including a CNBC “Final Trades” mention and analysis around its AI and neocloud expansion, reinforcing the view that the company’s long-term growth story remains intact.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Meta may expand into the neocloud business could be seen as strategically interesting, but the market impact is still uncertain because it is not yet a confirmed revenue driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in an upcoming youth-safety trial, a major legal overhang that could weigh on shares due to the size of the potential liability. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports that India is pressuring Meta over child-abuse related ads on Instagram add to regulatory pressure and could further hurt sentiment around the company’s content-moderation risks.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reportedly said Meta’s AI agent development “hasn't really accelerated” as expected, which may raise questions about near-term returns on the company’s heavy AI spending.

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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