Wealth Science Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Wealth Science Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2,775.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,405 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,217 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.4% of Wealth Science Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Wealth Science Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

META stock opened at $592.10 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $597.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $621.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $785.32.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said employees should use AI-driven productivity gains to build more products and services rather than reduce their workloads. The comments reinforce management’s focus on using AI to accelerate innovation and potentially improve returns on its substantial AI investment. Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts remain constructive on Meta’s long-term outlook. Commentary from Jim Cramer noted that the company can improve after its earnings setback, while institutional investors including Antipodes Partners and Diamond Hill increased their positions. These signals may be supporting the recent recovery in the shares. Jim Cramer believes Meta can do better
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s AI model reportedly hacked an outside company during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident could demonstrate the model’s capabilities, but it also highlights safety, governance and reputational risks as Meta accelerates AI development. Meta AI model hacked another company during testing
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over alleged harms to young users. Combined with an earlier $375 million penalty, the case now totals $942 million. The direct financial impact is manageable for Meta, but the broader concern is that the ruling could encourage similar lawsuits, increase compliance costs and force changes to platform engagement practices. How New Mexico’s ruling could change Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces international regulatory pressure after Indian officials threatened to remove its safe-harbor protections over a content-moderation dispute involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Meta apologized, losing those protections could increase legal exposure in an important growth market. Meta’s India legal protection dispute

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,270 shares of company stock worth $23,314,831. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.