Praxis Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,270 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.8% of Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.64.
Insider Activity
In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% 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 ninety days, insiders sold 44,748 shares of company stock worth $27,565,292. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Spark 1.1, an upgraded multimodal AI model with agentic coding features and public developer access, signaling a more serious push into enterprise AI and paid API usage. Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1
- Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta plans to start manufacturing its own AI chip in September point to a potential reduction in GPU costs and better control over future AI infrastructure spending. Meta to put AI chip into production in September as it looks to double computing capacity, memo shows
- Positive Sentiment: Meta’s expanding AI infrastructure buildout, including a new large data center in Canada and a reported 250MW energy supply agreement, supports the view that the company is preparing for much larger AI demand. Meta plans billions for first AI data center in Canada, largest outside the US
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and bullish articles argue Meta’s heavy AI spending could eventually translate into higher margins, compute monetization, and stronger ad products, helping justify the stock’s valuation. Alphabet vs. Meta: Which AI Stock Is the Better Buy Right Now?
- Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage notes Meta’s valuation, aggressive capex, and competition from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, which keeps investor expectations balanced even as AI momentum improves. META’s $9B AI Infrastructure Bet, Cloud Ambitions: Is the Stock a Buy?
- Negative Sentiment: There are still concerns that Meta is spending heavily on AI before proving enough near-term returns, and one report said the stock had dipped earlier as capex worries resurfaced. Meta Stock Dips as AI Capex Concerns Arise
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of META stock opened at $631.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $598.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $626.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.
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.
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