Ground Swell Capital LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,283 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $734,000. Meta Platforms makes up 1.4% of Ground Swell Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ META opened at $564.11 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $607.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $629.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to draw bullish commentary from analysts and investors who view it as a strong long-term growth story, with some recent coverage calling it a market favorite and one of billionaire Dan Loeb’s preferred growth holdings.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is rolling out a cheaper new line of smart glasses, starting at $299, support the company’s push beyond social media into wearable AI hardware and could broaden adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: One recent article argued Meta has clear AI-driven upside over the next several years, reinforcing the view that its scale, ad business, and AI investments could support higher earnings over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building a standalone prediction-market app, which could create a new product category, but it remains early and its financial impact is unclear.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader “Magnificent 7” weakness has weighed on mega-cap tech stocks overall, adding a market-level headwind even for companies with strong fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: The lawsuit ruling in the Facebook and Instagram addiction case keeps legal exposure alive and could increase uncertainty around Meta’s platform practices and future costs. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta loses bid to toss lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram addict children

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This trade represents a 11.33% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.