Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Holdings Trimmed by South Street Advisors LLC

South Street Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,607 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of South Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $618.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $636.57. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% 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 quarter, insiders sold 42,860 shares of company stock valued at $26,555,260. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

About Meta Platforms

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.