Lbp Am Sa Acquires 26,090 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Lbp Am Sa increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,843 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,090 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Lbp Am Sa’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $127,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 42.6% during the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street has been upgrading Meta and lifting price targets after the company’s strong Q4 print and exceptionally strong Q1 revenue guide, supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages reiterated/raised ratings — examples include Cantor Fitzgerald bumping its target to $860 and Barclays keeping an Overweight — reinforcing the buy-side view that fundamentals and ad recovery justify higher multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/tech headlines around AI capex are creating mixed market reactions: Meta’s AI investments and infrastructure plans underpin growth but also increase near-term spending volatility; that ambiguity is tempering momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is locking in off-grid power for hyperscale data needs (reported prepayment/agreements with SMR developers), which secures energy for AI workloads but implies long-dated infrastructure commitments. This is strategic but capital-intensive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators warn that AI capex and Reality Labs spending are rising quickly; several notes caution that mounting expenses could compress margins if revenue acceleration slows. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: India’s top court questioned WhatsApp’s data-sharing with Meta entities and warned a ban could be reimposed — a tangible legal/regulatory headwind in a major market. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $848.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $691.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $655.04 and a 200 day moving average of $695.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at $18,876,738.02. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 39,077 shares of company stock valued at $23,955,958 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.