Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 854,425 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 204,137 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.9% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $563,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $526,715.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,171,959.94. The trade was a 6.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This trade represents a 11.33% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush raised Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Mizuho decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of META stock opened at $584.59 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $620.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to be viewed as a major AI winner, with Truist calling out a potential next $20 billion business and analysts remaining bullish on the company’s long-term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s $115 million workforce academy and related data-center training initiatives reinforce its aggressive AI infrastructure buildout and commitment to scaling capacity.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Best Buy partnership to showcase AI glasses and VR headsets could help drive consumer interest and future hardware adoption.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators ordered Meta to restore WhatsApp access for rival AI chatbots, adding antitrust pressure and potentially weakening Meta’s platform advantage.
• Negative Sentiment: A newly reported AI bug that enabled Instagram account takeovers raises fresh cybersecurity and trust concerns for the platform.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta has delayed a key AI rollout are fueling concern that monetization of its AI investments may take longer than expected.

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.