Sageworth Trust Co Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sageworth Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 258.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,931 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares during the quarter. Sageworth Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,083 shares of company stock worth $24,628,719. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $656.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $599.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $626.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS kept a buy rating on Meta while lowering its price target to $766 from $865, implying meaningful upside from current levels and signaling analysts still see room for gains despite recent volatility.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted Meta’s expanded AI ambitions, including a major scale-up of its Louisiana Hyperion data center to 5 gigawatts and more than $50 billion in projected cost, reinforcing the company’s commitment to AI infrastructure and long-term growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Some market commentary framed Meta as one of the strongest mega-cap AI stories, citing its ability to fund AI investment with a profitable ad business and noting that its new AI model is priced well below rivals, which could help adoption.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports focused on technical factors, saying META looked overbought and near resistance, which may be contributing to short-term weakness rather than reflecting a change in fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing concerns that Meta’s AI spending is rising fast, with 2026 capex now expected at $125 billion to $145 billion, raising questions about near-term returns on investment and pressuring sentiment.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta pulled down an AI image tool after privacy backlash, and the company is facing criticism over AI advertising tools that allegedly create poor results for brands, adding reputational and regulatory noise.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional headlines noted a Chinese regulatory setback on a planned AI acquisition and an EU probe into Facebook and Instagram design features, which could increase legal and compliance uncertainty.

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.