Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Purchased by Triad Wealth Partners LLC

Triad Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,974 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $562.20 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $618.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $632.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta and EssilorLuxottica launched a new, lower-priced line of AI smart glasses starting at $299, which could broaden adoption of Meta’s wearables strategy and support future hardware revenue. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reportedly building an independent prediction markets app, “Arena,” signaling another potential product category that could increase user engagement and open a new monetization avenue. New York Times article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to strong AI monetization potential and meaningful upside in Meta shares, suggesting investors still see long-term value despite recent weakness. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expanding Instagram TV-style features to more devices and adding AI-powered video tools, a sign of continued product iteration aimed at boosting engagement. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta named Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp and invested $900 million in CRED, highlighting a push to diversify monetization around messaging and India. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: The European Union is escalating its probe into whether Facebook and Instagram use addictive design features that harm children, adding to Meta’s regulatory risk in Europe. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: The Trump administration is reportedly pressing Meta to submit its AI models for voluntary security review, raising the possibility of more oversight and compliance costs. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also paused an internal mouse-tracking program after data-security concerns, reinforcing investor worries about privacy and workplace-data issues. Reuters article

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% 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 three months, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

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.