Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Holdings Cut by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,153,836 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 721,001 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.5% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,097,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in 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 buying an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. Consolidated Investment Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Meta to beat second-quarter estimates, citing healthy ad demand and AI-related improvements, with Q2 revenue now seen at $60.6 billion and EPS at $7.50 versus consensus of $60.2 billion and $7.18. Meta Platforms expected to top earnings estimates as ad growth remains healthy, says BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by reports that Meta could monetize its AI buildout more directly, including a potential large-scale computing deal with Anthropic, which could help justify its heavy capex and reduce valuation pressure. Zuckerberg Is Quietly Turning Meta Into A Compute Provider Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s $12 billion financing for new Meta data centers in Texas underscores strong outside confidence in Meta’s AI infrastructure strategy and signals continued investment in future capacity. BlackRock Leads $12 Billion Financing for New Meta Data Centers in Texas
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s expanding AI ambitions and “compute provider” strategy reinforces the bullish AI narrative, but the market is still waiting for proof that the spending will translate into durable returns. Meta’s AI Ambitions Keep Expanding. Is META Stock Keeping Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta faces a Tennessee trial over claims Instagram was designed to be addictive, adding headline risk and potential legal overhang for the stock. Meta faces Tennessee trial over allegations Instagram was designed to be addictive
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of temporary Facebook and Instagram outages may add near-term frustration for users and advertisers, though the impact appears more operational than fundamental. Users of Meta’s Facebook, Instagram report suffering some outages

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Mizuho decreased 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 report on Tuesday, May 5th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $645.85 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $604.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $626.63. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

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.