LSV Asset Management Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

LSV Asset Management cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 68.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,432 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 214,057 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $63,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Meta and set an $810 price target, signaling meaningful upside from current levels. Tickerreport.com
• Positive Sentiment: A new AI adoption study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies for AI execution, reinforcing the view that its AI investments are becoming strategically important. CNBC
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and said Meta’s AI monetization and enterprise adoption could help offset concerns about rising spending. Yahoo Finance / Investing.com
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets highlighted Meta as a top AI and virtual reality stock, adding to the longer-term bullish narrative around its product pipeline and AI push. Motley Fool

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.19.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $600.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $617.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $636.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 40,890 shares of company stock worth $25,315,558 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.