826 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Bought by Pearl Planning LLC

Pearl Planning LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 826 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 158,971 shares of company stock worth $101,676,729 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.31.

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.