LDIC Inc. Acquires Shares of 8,274 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

LDIC Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,274 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,661,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.9% of LDIC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 52,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $29,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $56,000. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. now owns 4,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 86.2% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.8% during the second quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 8,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.8%

META opened at $594.97 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $596.01 and a 200-day moving average of $620.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 7.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,280 shares of company stock worth $22,075,696. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are viewing Meta’s roughly $145 billion AI infrastructure commitment as a potentially valuable long-term investment. The company’s data-center buildout and open-weight AI models could strengthen advertising performance, user engagement and future products. Meta and Nvidia plant “very firm flag” in open-weight AI race
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s rollout of a standalone Facebook Creator Studio app with AI-powered audience-growth and engagement tools may support creator activity and platform monetization. Facebook officially rolls out its standalone Creator Studio app with AI tools for creators
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to see substantial upside in META, with consensus price targets well above recent trading levels. The bullish view is supported by strong revenue growth and expectations that AI investments will reinforce Meta’s core advertising business. Meta remains a deeply discounted giant
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with the North America’s Building Trades Unions is intended to expand access to skilled workers for construction and maintenance of U.S. AI infrastructure, supporting execution of its ambitious capacity expansion. Meta taps skilled trades workers to power America’s AI infrastructure boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta removed approximately 756,000 suspected under-16 accounts in Australia—462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts—as it responds to the country’s youth-social-media restrictions. The move demonstrates compliance but may increase moderation and enforcement costs. Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is defending itself in a major trial brought by 29 U.S. states alleging that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children. An adverse outcome could bring significant damages and require costly platform changes. Meta, 29 states head to court over youth social media litigation
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending is pressuring profitability and cash flow, while a German privacy complaint over Meta’s AI glasses adds regulatory risk to its wearable-AI strategy. German advocacy group lodges criminal complaint over Meta AI glasses
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan’s recent sales under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, along with some institutional stake reductions, may weigh on sentiment, although the transactions do not necessarily indicate weaker fundamentals.

Meta Platforms Company 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.