Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Buys 2,085 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 60,246 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $34,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Twin City Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the first quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,057,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Jacobsen Capital Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 4,308 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 8,605 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,923,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 15,965 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,134,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. Finally, Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,310,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock worth $24,419,874 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank AG upgraded Meta Platforms from “hold” to “buy,” a supportive signal that can lift investor confidence in the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Meta was also highlighted in multiple “best ideas” and bullish commentary pieces, including a CNBC “Final Trades” mention and analysis around its AI and neocloud expansion, reinforcing the view that the company’s long-term growth story remains intact.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Meta may expand into the neocloud business could be seen as strategically interesting, but the market impact is still uncertain because it is not yet a confirmed revenue driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in an upcoming youth-safety trial, a major legal overhang that could weigh on shares due to the size of the potential liability. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports that India is pressuring Meta over child-abuse related ads on Instagram add to regulatory pressure and could further hurt sentiment around the company’s content-moderation risks.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reportedly said Meta’s AI agent development “hasn’t really accelerated” as expected, which may raise questions about near-term returns on the company’s heavy AI spending.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.9%

Meta Platforms stock traded up $11.49 on Tuesday, hitting $611.78. 2,567,146 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,495,410. 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 $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $601.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $627.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year 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. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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