Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 72,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 15,187 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 50,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $29,146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,741 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 39,519 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $22,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Hamel Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Hamel Associates Inc. now owns 1,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,429,812 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,964,745,000 after purchasing an additional 404,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Human Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Human Investing LLC now owns 444 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This trade 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $595.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $604.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $625.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.