Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 208,280 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,628 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.8% of Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $152,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $848.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $691.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $655.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $695.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The company has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has been upgrading Meta and lifting price targets after the company’s strong Q4 print and exceptionally strong Q1 revenue guide, supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages reiterated/raised ratings — examples include Cantor Fitzgerald bumping its target to $860 and Barclays keeping an Overweight — reinforcing the buy-side view that fundamentals and ad recovery justify higher multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/tech headlines around AI capex are creating mixed market reactions: Meta’s AI investments and infrastructure plans underpin growth but also increase near-term spending volatility; that ambiguity is tempering momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is locking in off-grid power for hyperscale data needs (reported prepayment/agreements with SMR developers), which secures energy for AI workloads but implies long-dated infrastructure commitments. This is strategic but capital-intensive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators warn that AI capex and Reality Labs spending are rising quickly; several notes caution that mounting expenses could compress margins if revenue acceleration slows. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: India’s top court questioned WhatsApp’s data-sharing with Meta entities and warned a ban could be reimposed — a tangible legal/regulatory headwind in a major market. Read More.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.00, for a total transaction of $343,805.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,737,780. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total transaction of $358,602.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. This trade represents a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 39,077 shares of company stock worth $23,955,958 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.