Niles Investment Management LLC Invests $29,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 16,643 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.0% of Niles Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,170 shares of company stock valued at $24,218,565. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $566.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $621.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $636.05. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

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.