Ebert Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ebert Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,697 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,216,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Ebert Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI and advertising strategy still appears to be generating real business results, with one analysis pointing to strong ad impressions, higher ad prices, and continued revenue growth that could help justify its heavy capital spending. Meta’s Selloff Looks Like A Major Misread
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced new parental supervision tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Horizon, which could support trust and platform engagement over time. Meta’s new tools allow parents to better supervise their kids’ social media accounts. Will they work?
• Positive Sentiment: Zefr said it is deepening its partnership with Meta by adding AI-powered pre-bid controls to Threads, a sign that advertisers continue building on Meta’s newer products. Zefr Deepens Meta Partnership, Bringing AI-Powered Pre-Bid Controls to Threads Feed
• Neutral Sentiment: Several hedge-fund filings showed mixed investor sentiment, with some managers adding to Meta while others trimmed stakes, offering no clear single-direction signal for the shares. Tiger Global boosts Meta Platforms stake by 336,249 shares
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is starting layoffs affecting about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, and expects the cuts to roll out in waves this week and possibly continue later in the year. Meta layoffs starting this week stress harsh AI reality inside Zuckerberg’s company
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is reorganizing 7,000 employees toward AI and telling workers to stay remote during the layoff process reinforce fears that rising AI investment is creating pressure on headcount and margins. Meta Reassigns 7,000 Employees to Focus on A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s “brutal” AI spending and large-scale job cuts is fueling concern that capital expenditures are getting too large before investors see enough return. Meta’s 8,000 Job Cuts To Foot The $145B AI Bill

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.57, for a total value of $559,831.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,853 shares in the company, valued at $4,143,118.21. The trade was a 11.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total value of $386,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,565,949. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold a total of 158,971 shares of company stock valued at $101,676,729 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

META stock opened at $611.21 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $621.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $638.95. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.