Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Raised by Heritage Investors Management Corp

by · The Cerbat Gem

Heritage Investors Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,352 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,826 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Bayban raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,513 shares of company stock worth $24,419,874 over the last three months. Corporate 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: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool inside Meta AI for consumers and businesses. The rollout could help increase engagement across Instagram, WhatsApp and other apps, while giving advertisers and creators a new reason to use Meta’s ecosystem. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
  • Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, adding to bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
  • Positive Sentiment: Truist Securities also reiterated a Buy view and an $840 price target, reinforcing the case that Wall Street still sees meaningful upside in META.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.64.

View Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. 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 50-day moving average of $600.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $627.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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