Huntington National Bank Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 363,880 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,958 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.4% of Huntington National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $240,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Benchmark began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. 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 issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $526,715.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,986 shares in the company, valued at $8,171,959.94. This represents a 6.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,860 shares of company stock valued at $26,555,260. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $618.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $636.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Key Meta Platforms News

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

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.