Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Purchased by PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd

PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,677 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 9.2% of PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,373,000 after acquiring an additional 13,311 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $317,162.16. Following the sale, 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 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 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META stock opened at $585.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $619.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $636.72. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a partnership with Associated Builders and Contractors to launch a $115 million workforce academy that will train construction technicians for its data center projects, helping address labor shortages and supporting its AI infrastructure expansion. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Italy’s competition regulator dropped its investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp AI bot, removing a legal overhang tied to how the company integrates AI into WhatsApp. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also partnered with Best Buy to create “Meta Lab” experiential spaces where shoppers can test VR headsets and AI glasses, which could help boost hardware awareness and adoption. Article Title

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.