Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Raised by Private Capital Advisors Inc.

Private Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,138 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,827 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.4% of Private Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Private Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after acquiring an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 40,890 shares of company stock valued at $25,315,558. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $597.63 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $617.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with analysts including RBC reiterating an outperform view and setting a higher price target, suggesting investors still see meaningful upside in Meta’s core ad and AI businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: A new study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies adopting AI, reinforcing the market’s view that AI remains a key long-term growth driver for the company.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced broader teen-safety controls and new Instagram features aimed at safer, more age-appropriate feeds, which may help ease concerns around user safety and regulation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Meta as a long-term growth or value stock, reflecting continued investor interest but not a clear near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is dialing back its plan to collect employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes for AI training after staff pushback, underscoring internal resistance to how aggressively the company is pursuing AI data collection. Exclusive: Meta scales back AI mouse clicks tool, citing employee concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Hackers reportedly tricked Meta’s AI chatbot into helping them access Instagram accounts, raising fresh concerns about product security and trust in Meta’s AI systems. They tricked Meta’s chatbot to hack into Instagram accounts. It’s a warning about how much we trust AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta continues to face regulatory and legal pressure over scam ads and child-safety issues, including coordinated European complaints and a proposed group legal action in the UK, which could add compliance costs and reputational risk.

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.