Bessemer Group Inc. Has $1.31 Billion Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,298,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 83,781 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.1% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,314,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Bayban raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta and kept an overweight rating, signaling expectations for meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Wells Fargo target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn also boosted its target and reiterated a buy rating, reflecting growing optimism that Meta can monetize AI more effectively. Benzinga report on Rothschild & Co Redburn target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Meta’s expanding AI strategy, including possible cloud/compute sales and large enterprise deals, which could create a new revenue stream and support margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America said Meta is positioned to beat second-quarter expectations, citing healthy ad demand and AI-driven improvements ahead of earnings later this month.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary continues to frame Meta as a key beneficiary of the AI spending boom, with investors watching whether infrastructure investment can be monetized faster than expected.
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison piece versus Pinterest and a broader “Mag 7” article mainly added background, but did not change the core investment thesis for META.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a Tennessee trial over claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive and contributed to youth mental-health issues, adding legal and regulatory risk.
• Negative Sentiment: A New York Times report said Meta’s AI moderation mistakenly banned user accounts, raising questions about product reliability and trust in its automated systems.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing investor concerns remain around heavy AI spending, data-center financing, and whether returns on that capital will justify the expense.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $643.81 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $604.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $626.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

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.