Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Raised by Valeo Financial Advisors LLC

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 52,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,678 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta began cutting about 8,000 jobs, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a broader AI-first restructuring. Investors may view the move as evidence that the company needs to offset rising AI investment costs, which could weigh on near-term profitability. Meta Begins Laying Off Thousands of Employees as It Transforms Around AI
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say Meta tied the layoffs to funding its AI push, reinforcing worries that aggressive investment in AI could pressure earnings and cash flow before the benefits show up. Zuckerberg says ‘success isn’t a given’ in memo to employees amid Meta layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: Management’s decision to reassign about 7,000 workers into AI-related roles while cutting headcount highlights the scale of the internal overhaul and may keep morale and execution risks in focus. Meta Moves 7,000 Workers Into AI Roles Ahead of Job Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s CFO, Susan Li, sold shares in a pre-arranged transaction, which can add to short-term caution even though the sale was reportedly for tax withholding purposes. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li Sells 2,127 Shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also offered rival AI chatbots limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe, a move that could support platform usage but does not yet have a clear near-term financial impact. Exclusive: Meta offers AI rival chatbots limited free WhatsApp access, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain generally constructive on Meta’s long-term earnings power, with Wells Fargo only slightly trimming its price target while keeping an Overweight rating. Wells Fargo Trims Meta Platforms Price Target to $765: Why the AI Infrastructure Bet Still Has Believers

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $908.00 to $865.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Four 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.19.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’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 value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $510,025.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,933,071. This represents a 5.40% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 171,517 shares of company stock valued at $109,138,067. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $605.06 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $619.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $637.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm 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%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.