Troy Asset Management Ltd Sells 2,374 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Troy Asset Management Ltd trimmed its Meta Platforms stake by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,374 shares and leaving it with 78,489 shares valued at about $51.8 million.
• Meta reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $10.44 versus estimates of $6.67 and revenue of $56.31 billion, with revenue up 33.1% year over year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, while analysts remain generally bullish with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Troy Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 78,489 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,374 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Troy Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $51,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $1,191,175,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $813,994,000. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 948.7% in the third quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 1,243,577 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124,998 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $597.63 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $617.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $636.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.98, for a total transaction of $509,716.26. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,417,930.54. This represents a 5.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was 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 $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 quarter, insiders sold 40,890 shares of company stock worth $25,315,558. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment 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, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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.

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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