Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Trimmed by Hoey Investments Inc.

Hoey Investments Inc. lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 127,688 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,732 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 10.5% of Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $73,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th 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 during the period. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth 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. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s latest AI push is drawing bullish attention, including the launch of Muse Spark 1.1, expanded developer access through its Model API, and reports that the company plans to start producing an in-house AI chip in September. Investors are betting these moves could lower compute costs, reduce reliance on Nvidia and AMD, and open new revenue streams beyond advertising. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is also benefiting from optimism around its cloud and AI infrastructure ambitions, including a new C$13 billion data center in Alberta and commentary that the company may be building a stronger long-term “AI revenue stack” than the market currently prices in. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and commentators are still constructive on META, with bullish notes saying the stock looks attractively valued relative to its AI growth potential and that recent weakness created an opportunity for long-term investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Citizens JMP trimmed its price target to $800 from $825 while maintaining an outperform rating, suggesting continued upside but a slightly more cautious near-term view on valuation and spending. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces renewed regulatory risk after the European Union said Facebook and Instagram may violate the Digital Services Act with “addictive” design features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and push notifications, potentially exposing the company to fines and product changes. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reporting also highlighted investor concern that Meta’s aggressive AI capex could pressure margins if monetization takes longer than expected, even though the market is currently rewarding the strategy. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $838.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $669.21 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $598.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $626.85. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 40,083 shares of company stock valued at $24,628,719. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.