Williamson Legacy Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Williamson Legacy Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 65.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 996 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,909 shares during the period. Williamson Legacy Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. TrustBank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $901,000. Banco de Sabadell S.A raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A now owns 4,973 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,280,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 37,792 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,946,000 after buying an additional 2,210 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 23,207 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,319,000 after buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 93,194 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $61,517,000 after purchasing an additional 4,314 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $618.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $636.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during 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 was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use ‘Faceprint’ Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US ‘trade action’
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 42,860 shares of company stock worth $26,555,260. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.