Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Has $2.64 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV trimmed its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 24.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,616 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,528 shares during the quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial decreased 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. Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is being viewed more favorably by some analysts because its AI-powered ads are reportedly improving advertiser returns, which supports revenue growth and suggests its AI spending is starting to pay off. Meta’s Capex Is Paying Off, But The Market Doesn’t Care
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta may rent out excess GPU capacity and build a cloud-computing business are boosting sentiment, since investors see a potential new monetization avenue beyond digital advertising. Meta’s push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s broader AI strategy is also getting support from bullish coverage that argues the company is chasing a huge enterprise AI-compute opportunity and could eventually re-rate higher if execution improves. Senior Analyst: Meta Is Chasing A $2 Trillion AI Compute Opportunity, But It’s Years Behind
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta remains a highly followed stock, with traders and analysts continuing to debate whether its AI investment cycle will translate into sustainable earnings growth or just higher spending. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Negative Sentiment: Zuckerberg also acknowledged that Meta’s AI agents are progressing slower than expected, which reinforces investor concerns that some of the company’s ambitious AI initiatives may take longer to monetize. Zuckerberg says AI agent development going slower than expected
• Negative Sentiment: India reportedly asked Meta to delay its WhatsApp username rollout over fraud concerns, creating a potential regulatory hurdle for one of Meta’s most important messaging growth initiatives. India asks Meta to hold WhatsApp username rollout over fraud fears

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $582.88 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a PEG ratio of 1.03 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. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $602.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $628.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock worth $24,115,999. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.