Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20,486 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $39,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report 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 issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,707,600. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is developing a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity and AI model access lifted the stock, since it could turn prior AI spending into near-term revenue and reduce reliance on ads.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction has been broadly constructive, with traders rotating into Meta while some AI infrastructure rivals sold off on fears of new competition from a company with major scale and cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also named Alex Schultz as its first chief data officer and promoted Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, a management change aimed at improving data-driven decision-making in the AI era.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity showed traders positioning for more upside, reinforcing the market’s bullish tone but not changing the fundamental story by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 8.8%

NASDAQ:META opened at $612.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $606.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $628.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 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.