Amica Mutual Insurance Co. Decreases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Amica Mutual Insurance Co. decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,128 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,204 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Amica Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Amica Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $593.00 on Monday. 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 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $618.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $636.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following 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 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock valued at $25,567,928. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta is reportedly weighing a large stock sale to fund AI infrastructure, sparking dilution concerns and pressuring the shares. Article: Meta weighs big equity raising after blockbuster Google deal
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s AI rollout has faced another delay, with the Muse Spark developer API still lacking a launch date, raising questions about when the company can monetize its AI investments. Article: Meta repeatedly pushes back new AI model release for developers
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy concerns resurfaced after reports that Meta smart glasses could use facial-recognition-style “faceprint” tracking, which could invite regulatory scrutiny and consumer backlash. Article: Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use ‘Faceprint’ Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also battling renewed policy and legal pressure in Australia over proposed payments for news, adding another regulatory overhang. Article: Meta accuses Australia of breaching FTA, invokes US ‘trade action’
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta continues to receive bullish long-term commentary from some analysts and investors who view it as a major AI and advertising platform, but that optimism is being overshadowed today by funding and execution concerns. Article: Analyst Sees Multi-Billion Dollar Potential In Meta Platforms’ Subscription Model

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

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.