LDIC Inc. Invests $4.66 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

LDIC Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,661,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.9% of LDIC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the second quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 52,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $29,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $56,000. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the second quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. now owns 4,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,518,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 86.2% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.8% during the second quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 8,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are viewing Meta’s roughly $145 billion AI infrastructure commitment as a potentially valuable long-term investment. The company’s data-center buildout and open-weight AI models could strengthen advertising performance, user engagement and future products. Meta and Nvidia plant “very firm flag” in open-weight AI race
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s rollout of a standalone Facebook Creator Studio app with AI-powered audience-growth and engagement tools may support creator activity and platform monetization. Facebook officially rolls out its standalone Creator Studio app with AI tools for creators
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to see substantial upside in META, with consensus price targets well above recent trading levels. The bullish view is supported by strong revenue growth and expectations that AI investments will reinforce Meta’s core advertising business. Meta remains a deeply discounted giant
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with the North America’s Building Trades Unions is intended to expand access to skilled workers for construction and maintenance of U.S. AI infrastructure, supporting execution of its ambitious capacity expansion. Meta taps skilled trades workers to power America’s AI infrastructure boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta removed approximately 756,000 suspected under-16 accounts in Australia—462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts—as it responds to the country’s youth-social-media restrictions. The move demonstrates compliance but may increase moderation and enforcement costs. Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is defending itself in a major trial brought by 29 U.S. states alleging that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children. An adverse outcome could bring significant damages and require costly platform changes. Meta, 29 states head to court over youth social media litigation
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending is pressuring profitability and cash flow, while a German privacy complaint over Meta’s AI glasses adds regulatory risk to its wearable-AI strategy. German advocacy group lodges criminal complaint over Meta AI glasses
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan’s recent sales under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, along with some institutional stake reductions, may weigh on sentiment, although the transactions do not necessarily indicate weaker fundamentals.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% 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. Insiders have sold 36,280 shares of company stock valued at $22,075,696 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.8%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $594.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $596.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $620.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors 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 is 7.91%.

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.