World Investment Advisors Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 94,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 876 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.9% of World Investment Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $53,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced it will spend more than C$13 billion on its first AI data center in Canada, its largest outside the U.S. Investors may see this as a signal that Meta is still aggressively scaling its AI infrastructure to support future products and monetization. Meta plans billions for first AI data center in Canada, largest outside the US
• Positive Sentiment: Meta rolled out Muse Image, its first AI image-generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, which could improve engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Meta AI while giving advertisers new creative tools. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and analyst notes highlighted Meta as an attractive AI and momentum stock, including a rating upgrade to Buy from Erste Group Bank and bullish commentary around its long-term growth and capex strategy. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s move to potentially monetize excess compute capacity or expand into cloud/neocloud services is strategically interesting, but it is still an early-stage idea and not yet a proven earnings driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking about $1.4 trillion in penalties in an upcoming youth-safety trial, creating a very large legal risk that could weigh on investor sentiment. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reporting on Instagram AI sharing rules and other regulatory scrutiny adds to concerns about privacy, content use, and platform oversight.
• Negative Sentiment: Comments from Mark Zuckerberg that AI agent development “hasn’t really accelerated” as expected may also raise questions about the near-term payoff from Meta’s heavy AI spending.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0%

META opened at $603.12 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $598.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $626.99. 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 cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 3,348 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,748 shares of company stock worth $27,565,292. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.