HHM Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 86.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,756 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. RHL Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Bayban boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are viewing Meta’s roughly $145 billion AI infrastructure commitment as a potentially valuable long-term investment. The company’s data-center buildout and open-weight AI models could strengthen advertising performance, user engagement and future products. Meta and Nvidia plant “very firm flag” in open-weight AI race
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s rollout of a standalone Facebook Creator Studio app with AI-powered audience-growth and engagement tools may support creator activity and platform monetization. Facebook officially rolls out its standalone Creator Studio app with AI tools for creators
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to see substantial upside in META, with consensus price targets well above recent trading levels. The bullish view is supported by strong revenue growth and expectations that AI investments will reinforce Meta’s core advertising business. Meta remains a deeply discounted giant
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with the North America’s Building Trades Unions is intended to expand access to skilled workers for construction and maintenance of U.S. AI infrastructure, supporting execution of its ambitious capacity expansion. Meta taps skilled trades workers to power America’s AI infrastructure boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta removed approximately 756,000 suspected under-16 accounts in Australia—462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts—as it responds to the country’s youth-social-media restrictions. The move demonstrates compliance but may increase moderation and enforcement costs. Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is defending itself in a major trial brought by 29 U.S. states alleging that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children. An adverse outcome could bring significant damages and require costly platform changes. Meta, 29 states head to court over youth social media litigation
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending is pressuring profitability and cash flow, while a German privacy complaint over Meta’s AI glasses adds regulatory risk to its wearable-AI strategy. German advocacy group lodges criminal complaint over Meta AI glasses
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan’s recent sales under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, along with some institutional stake reductions, may weigh on sentiment, although the transactions do not necessarily indicate weaker fundamentals.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.8%

META opened at $594.97 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $596.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $620.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $785.00 target price (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $910,200. The trade was a 45.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total transaction of $280,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,671.08. This trade represents a 14.52% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,280 shares of company stock worth $22,075,696. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.