Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Brooklands Fund Management Ltd

Brooklands Fund Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15,000.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,510 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.1% of Brooklands Fund Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Brooklands Fund Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bluedoor Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,042,000. Cynosure Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 1,921 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares during the period. 71 West Capital Partners acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,271,000. Faithward Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 17,641 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,645,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI Mode in Facebook Search and related AI tools could open a new monetization stream and improve engagement across its apps. Meta introduces AI search and creative tools, Bank of America flags emerging monetization opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating, saying Meta’s AI strategy remains a key growth catalyst. BofA Reiterates Buy Rating on Meta Platforms (META) Cites AI Strategy a Key Growth Catalyst
• Positive Sentiment: Threads reached 500 million monthly active users, highlighting continued platform growth and stronger user engagement. Meta’s Threads reaches 500 million monthly users, rolls out new features
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s CTO said morale in the AI unit is near historic lows, which may reflect execution challenges even as the company doubles down on AI. Meta’s CTO says morale is almost ‘the worst it’s ever been’
• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s upcoming AI-powered AirPods and smart glasses could intensify competition in the AI wearables market, potentially challenging Meta’s device strategy. Apple to launch AI-juiced AirPods and sunglasses, going head-to-head with Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of consumer-protection lawsuits in Europe add another regulatory overhang for Meta. Consumer Protection: Three Chances for Damages from Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $600.21 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $622.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $635.51. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total value of $526,715.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,171,959.94. The trade was a 6.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. 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 have sold 39,170 shares of company stock worth $24,218,565 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.