Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Has $153.05 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA cut its Meta Platforms stake by 10.5% in the first quarter, selling 32,334 shares and leaving it with 275,337 shares valued at about $153.05 million. Meta remains the fund’s 10th largest holding and makes up roughly 2.6% of its portfolio.
• Meta continues to attract strong analyst support, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60. Recent commentary included upgrades and an increased target from Barclays to $830.
• The company posted a strong recent quarter, beating earnings and revenue estimates with $10.44 EPS on $56.31 billion in revenue. The article also notes bullish sentiment around Meta’s AI-driven cloud plans, even as a child-safety lawsuit remains a legal overhang.

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA trimmed its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 275,337 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 32,334 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.6% of Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $153,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,707,600. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at $2,481,290.47. This represents a 11.33% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is developing a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity and AI model access lifted the stock, since it could turn prior AI spending into near-term revenue and reduce reliance on ads.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction has been broadly constructive, with traders rotating into Meta while some AI infrastructure rivals sold off on fears of new competition from a company with major scale and cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also named Alex Schultz as its first chief data officer and promoted Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, a management change aimed at improving data-driven decision-making in the AI era.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity showed traders positioning for more upside, reinforcing the market’s bullish tone but not changing the fundamental story by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 8.8%

Shares of META stock opened at $612.91 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $606.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $628.95. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current 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 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 analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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