Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Sells 2,172 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 57.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,614 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,172 shares during the quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $876,000. Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 3,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,481,290.47. This trade 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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 Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of META opened at $582.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $602.79 and its 200-day moving average is $628.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. UBS Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Benchmark assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Company 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.