Walter Public Investments Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Walter Public Investments cut its Meta Platforms stake by 45% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 17,570 shares worth about $11.6 million.
• Meta continues to see heavy institutional ownership and recent insider selling, with insiders selling 41,305 shares over the past 90 days. The company’s COO and another insider both reduced their holdings through pre-arranged trading plans.
• Despite mixed analyst moves, Meta’s recent earnings were strong: it beat EPS expectations and posted 33.1% revenue growth year over year. The stock also now pays a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, yielding about 0.4%.

Walter Public Investments Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 45.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,570 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 14,367 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.1% of Walter Public Investments Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Walter Public Investments Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 130,031 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $85,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,869 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 10,212 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,727,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 6,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,464,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Viawealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,894 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,050,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 over the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush raised Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $585.39 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average is $619.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $636.72. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a partnership with Associated Builders and Contractors to launch a $115 million workforce academy that will train construction technicians for its data center projects, helping address labor shortages and supporting its AI infrastructure expansion. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Italy’s competition regulator dropped its investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp AI bot, removing a legal overhang tied to how the company integrates AI into WhatsApp. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also partnered with Best Buy to create “Meta Lab” experiential spaces where shoppers can test VR headsets and AI glasses, which could help boost hardware awareness and adoption. Article Title

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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