SageGuard Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,246 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

SageGuard Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,889 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of SageGuard Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. SageGuard Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Next Level Private LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the first quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,408 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,099,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $220,000. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the first quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC now owns 4,012 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,295,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.0% during the first quarter. TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC now owns 2,490 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is being viewed more favorably by some analysts because its AI-powered ads are reportedly improving advertiser returns, which supports revenue growth and suggests its AI spending is starting to pay off. Meta’s Capex Is Paying Off, But The Market Doesn’t Care
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta may rent out excess GPU capacity and build a cloud-computing business are boosting sentiment, since investors see a potential new monetization avenue beyond digital advertising. Meta’s push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s broader AI strategy is also getting support from bullish coverage that argues the company is chasing a huge enterprise AI-compute opportunity and could eventually re-rate higher if execution improves. Senior Analyst: Meta Is Chasing A $2 Trillion AI Compute Opportunity, But It’s Years Behind
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta remains a highly followed stock, with traders and analysts continuing to debate whether its AI investment cycle will translate into sustainable earnings growth or just higher spending. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Negative Sentiment: Zuckerberg also acknowledged that Meta’s AI agents are progressing slower than expected, which reinforces investor concerns that some of the company’s ambitious AI initiatives may take longer to monetize. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Negative Sentiment: India reportedly asked Meta to delay its WhatsApp username rollout over fraud concerns, creating a potential regulatory hurdle for one of Meta’s most important messaging growth initiatives. India asks Meta to hold WhatsApp username rollout over fraud fears

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $582.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $602.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $628.20. 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 capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.19, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. 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 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was 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. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.64.

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.