Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,534 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,205 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.7% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ META opened at $611.21 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $621.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $638.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI and advertising strategy still appears to be generating real business results, with one analysis pointing to strong ad impressions, higher ad prices, and continued revenue growth that could help justify its heavy capital spending. Meta’s Selloff Looks Like A Major Misread
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced new parental supervision tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Horizon, which could support trust and platform engagement over time. Meta’s new tools allow parents to better supervise their kids’ social media accounts. Will they work?
• Positive Sentiment: Zefr said it is deepening its partnership with Meta by adding AI-powered pre-bid controls to Threads, a sign that advertisers continue building on Meta’s newer products. Zefr Deepens Meta Partnership, Bringing AI-Powered Pre-Bid Controls to Threads Feed
• Neutral Sentiment: Several hedge-fund filings showed mixed investor sentiment, with some managers adding to Meta while others trimmed stakes, offering no clear single-direction signal for the shares. Tiger Global boosts Meta Platforms stake by 336,249 shares
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is starting layoffs affecting about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, and expects the cuts to roll out in waves this week and possibly continue later in the year. Meta layoffs starting this week stress harsh AI reality inside Zuckerberg’s company
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is reorganizing 7,000 employees toward AI and telling workers to stay remote during the layoff process reinforce fears that rising AI investment is creating pressure on headcount and margins. Meta Reassigns 7,000 Employees to Focus on A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s “brutal” AI spending and large-scale job cuts is fueling concern that capital expenditures are getting too large before investors see enough return. Meta’s 8,000 Job Cuts To Foot The $145B AI Bill

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 158,971 shares of company stock valued at $101,676,729 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Bank of America cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.31.

About Meta Platforms

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.