Evolve Private Wealth LLC Acquires 2,672 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Evolve Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,527 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,672 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Evolve Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Evolve Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after acquiring an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after acquiring an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $562.20 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $618.63 and its 200-day moving average is $632.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta and EssilorLuxottica launched a new, lower-priced line of AI smart glasses starting at $299, which could broaden adoption of Meta’s wearables strategy and support future hardware revenue. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reportedly building an independent prediction markets app, “Arena,” signaling another potential product category that could increase user engagement and open a new monetization avenue. New York Times article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to strong AI monetization potential and meaningful upside in Meta shares, suggesting investors still see long-term value despite recent weakness. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expanding Instagram TV-style features to more devices and adding AI-powered video tools, a sign of continued product iteration aimed at boosting engagement. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta named Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp and invested $900 million in CRED, highlighting a push to diversify monetization around messaging and India. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: The European Union is escalating its probe into whether Facebook and Instagram use addictive design features that harm children, adding to Meta’s regulatory risk in Europe. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: The Trump administration is reportedly pressing Meta to submit its AI models for voluntary security review, raising the possibility of more oversight and compliance costs. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also paused an internal mouse-tracking program after data-security concerns, reinforcing investor worries about privacy and workplace-data issues. Reuters article

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.