Stonebridge Financial Group LLC MO Takes $1.77 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC MO bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 2,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.5% of Stonebridge Financial Group LLC MO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after acquiring an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. 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 launched a standalone “Forum” app for Facebook Groups, signaling a new product push that could deepen user engagement and add pressure to competitors like Reddit. Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is cutting jobs and shifting resources toward AI, which investors may view as an efficiency move that supports long-term profit margins and keeps the company focused on its biggest growth area. Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs, Boosts AI Team: What This Means for Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also settled a school-district lawsuit over alleged social media addiction harms, removing one legal overhang, though the broader regulatory and litigation risk around its platforms remains. Texas sues Meta, WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Meta’s dual-class control structure, insider share sales, and broader AI spending debate are adding to the narrative, but they are less likely to drive the stock on their own than the new app launch and workforce reshaping.
• Negative Sentiment: The Texas attorney general’s lawsuit against Meta and WhatsApp over encryption and privacy claims adds another legal risk for investors to monitor. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams
• Negative Sentiment: Competition concerns are also in focus after Meta’s Forum app appeared to pressure Reddit shares, reinforcing worries that Meta’s scale lets it copy or crowd out rival social platforms.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $510,025.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,933,071. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 152,728 shares of company stock worth $96,925,217 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $610.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $617.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $637.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.