Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 8,089 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,019 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,089 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $562.60 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $609.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $629.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $84,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,707,600. This represents a 1.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,481,290.47. This 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 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999 over the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is being highlighted as a market outperformer, with coverage noting it has exceeded broader market returns, reinforcing the view that investors still see strong fundamentals behind the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and EssilorLuxottica launched a cheaper new line of AI smart glasses starting at $299, which could expand adoption of its wearables strategy and support long-term growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” suggesting Wall Street still sees upside potential despite recent volatility. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple pieces point to Meta being a preferred growth stock for long-term investors, including commentary citing billionaire Dan Loeb’s bullish stance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage comparing Meta with Snap underscores Meta’s much larger revenue base and more consistent growth, but this is more of a fundamentals refresher than a new catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is limiting Meta’s use of Gemini AI models raise a potential constraint on Meta’s access to outside AI compute capacity, which could be a modest headwind for its AI development plans. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. UBS Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

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.