Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. Sells 2,205 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management cut its Meta Platforms stake by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,205 shares and leaving it with 31,632 shares valued at about $20.88 million.
• Meta remains heavily owned by institutions, with large investors like Vanguard, State Street, and others continuing to add shares; overall, 79.91% of the stock is held by institutions and hedge funds.
• Meta recently posted strong earnings, beating analyst expectations on both EPS and revenue, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $840.19.

Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,632 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,205 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 4.2% of Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $20,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after buying an additional 278,180 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $12,597,374,000 after buying an additional 142,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,332,168 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,525,258,000 after buying an additional 558,792 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 151,173 shares of company stock worth $95,910,299 over the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $610.26 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $617.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.99.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 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 quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $840.19.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched a standalone “Forum” app for Facebook Groups, signaling a new product push that could deepen user engagement and add pressure to competitors like Reddit. Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is cutting jobs and shifting resources toward AI, which investors may view as an efficiency move that supports long-term profit margins and keeps the company focused on its biggest growth area. Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Boosts AI Team: What This Means for Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also settled a school-district lawsuit over alleged social media addiction harms, removing one legal overhang, though the broader regulatory and litigation risk around its platforms remains. Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Meta’s dual-class control structure, insider share sales, and broader AI spending debate are adding to the narrative, but they are less likely to drive the stock on their own than the new app launch and workforce reshaping.
• Negative Sentiment: The Texas attorney general’s lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp over encryption and privacy claims adds another legal risk for investors to monitor. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams
• Negative Sentiment: Competition concerns are also in focus after Meta’s Forum app appeared to pressure Reddit shares, reinforcing worries that Meta’s scale lets it copy or crowd out rival social platforms.

Meta Platforms Company 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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