Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Lifted by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,607,770 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,571 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.3% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. National Pension Service’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,041,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $578,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 17,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,608,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 328.5% during the 4th quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 16,488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,884,000 after buying an additional 12,640 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 451 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Womack Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Womack Financial LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of Meta Platforms 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 42,860 shares of company stock worth $26,555,260 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $593.00 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 cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $618.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $636.57. 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 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms 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.