Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Holdings Lifted by Cascade Financial Partners LLC

Cascade Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,843 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,597,374,000 after purchasing an additional 142,229 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,332,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,525,258,000 after purchasing an additional 558,792 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (down from $880.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.19.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched subscription plans for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and AI users, opening a new recurring-revenue stream and giving investors a clearer path beyond ads. Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions, with more to come, including AI plans
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is also testing paid AI subscription tiers, signaling another monetization lever for its fast-growing AI products. Meta to start testing AI subscription services, with cheapest plan at $7.99 a month
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said a Meta cloud computing business is “definitely on the table” if the company ends up with excess data-center capacity, hinting at a possible long-term expansion into a large enterprise market. Mark Zuckerberg says a Meta cloud computing business ‘definitely on the table’
• Positive Sentiment: Reports said Meta’s ad business remains strong, with AI features improving engagement and pricing power, reinforcing the company’s core earnings engine. META Rides on Solid Momentum in Ad Business: A Sign of More Upside?
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option buying suggests traders are positioning for more upside, but it does not by itself change fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Meta’s appeal in a Vermont social-media addiction case, allowing a legal challenge over teen safety and app design to proceed. US Supreme Court won’t hear Meta’s challenge to Vermont social media addiction lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces fresh scrutiny from a Santa Clara County lawsuit alleging it profited from scam ads, adding to regulatory and legal overhangs. Santa Clara Lawsuit Tests Meta’s AI Ad Model And Governance Balance

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of META opened at $635.26 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $617.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $636.82.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% 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 95,471 shares of company stock worth $60,616,955 over the last quarter. Company 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.