Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Orange Investment Advisors Inc.

Orange Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,831 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.2% of Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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 buying an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.9%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $582.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $604.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $628.52. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is building a cloud business to sell excess AI compute have fueled a sharp rally, as investors see a fresh way to turn heavy AI investment into revenue. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has reacted favorably to the cloud-compute plan, with analysts and media coverage suggesting the strategy could become a multi-billion-dollar business and improve META’s monetization profile. Meta’s push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity showed strong investor demand for upside exposure, suggesting traders are positioning for further gains if Meta confirms the cloud strategy. Jim Cramer Says Meta Is Entering AI’s ‘Most Lucrative Game’
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also rolled out a new AI-powered gaming app called Pocket, which highlights continued product experimentation but is not yet a major earnings driver. Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta announced it is joining a video distribution patent pool, which could reduce legal friction around video content but is unlikely to move the stock on its own. Access Advance Welcomes Meta Platforms, Inc. and Alibaba Group to the Video Distribution Patent Pool
• Negative Sentiment: Mark Zuckerberg said AI agent development has been progressing more slowly than expected, a reminder that Meta’s broader AI ambitions may take longer to pay off. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Negative Sentiment: India asked Meta to delay WhatsApp usernames over fraud concerns, adding regulatory risk around a feature tied to WhatsApp monetization and privacy efforts. India asks Meta to hold WhatsApp username rollout over fraud fears
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also lost a bid to dismiss a states’ lawsuit over Facebook and Instagram addiction claims, which keeps legal overhang in focus. Meta loses bid to dismiss states’ lawsuit over Facebook and Instagram addiction claims

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,707,600. This represents a 1.08% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.