Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 61.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Consolidated Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Meta Platforms stock opened at $659.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $517.50 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $627.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $650.33.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $805.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $860.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $820.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $837.09.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support: Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” and $850 price target and other firms (Deutsche Bank, Citizens) remain constructive, highlighting AI-driven ad upside and margin leverage. Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating, $850 PT
- Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank and others emphasize AI investments could strengthen Meta’s core advertising product and lift monetization, supporting bullish price targets. This Is the Impact of AI on Meta Platforms’ Core Advertising Business
- Positive Sentiment: Product and engagement catalysts — Threads added Live Chats and Meta Quest gained DirecTV streaming, which could help user engagement and new content monetization paths. Live Chats Are Now on Threads You Can Now Stream DirecTV on Your Meta Quest Headset
- Neutral Sentiment: Account and UX improvements: Meta is revamping its cross-app Meta Account system to streamline logins and device management — a product-level improvement with unclear near-term revenue impact. Meta Is Revamping Its Cross-App Management System
- Neutral Sentiment: Safety/parent tools: Meta added a feature letting parents see topics teens ask Meta AI about; reputationally positive but unlikely to move near-term revenue. Parents Can Now See What Their Kids Are Asking Meta AI About
- Negative Sentiment: Large workforce reduction: Meta will cut ~8,000 roles (10% of staff) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 open positions to “run more efficiently” and offset AI capex — the scale of the move signals heavy near-term restructuring and underscores how costly Meta’s AI buildout remains. Meta Prepares 8,000 Layoffs to Offset AI Infrastructure Investments
- Negative Sentiment: Employee-tracking controversy: Reports that Meta is logging employee keystrokes, clicks and mouse activity to train AI raise privacy/ethical concerns and potential regulatory scrutiny. Meta Is Tracking Employee Usage on Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia
- Negative Sentiment: Legal and ESG pressures: New shareholder proposals, recent court rulings around teen addiction liability and a consumer suit over ad-related scams increase potential legal costs and reputational risk. Meta Verdict Poised to Shift Platform Liability Consumer Watchdog Group Files Suit
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan disclosed multi-hundred-thousand-dollar share sales under a 10b5-1 plan, a data point some investors watch as a mild negative signal. SEC Filing: Javier Olivan Share Sales
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.
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