Westpac Banking Corp Sells 4,617 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Westpac Banking Corp reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,617 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.9% of Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Bayban boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $595.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $604.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $625.53. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,393 shares of company stock worth $22,141,163. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price target on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

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.