Garde Capital Inc. Purchases 12,640 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 328.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,488 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,640 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 451 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Womack Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Womack Financial LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Consulting Group lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Consulting Group now owns 2,401 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $3,532,000. Finally, United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 242,730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $160,224,000 after acquiring an additional 27,429 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $618.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.57. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.60.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $526,715.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,171,959.94. This trade represents a 6.06% 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,860 shares of company stock worth $26,555,260. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.