WealthPoint Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 1,207 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

WealthPoint Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,207 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 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: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure by signing new computing deals with Crusoe, which should help support its long-term AI buildout and capacity needs. Reuters: Meta signs new AI computing deals with data center firm Crusoe
• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to strengthen its AI-led growth narrative through data center expansion in India and new creator-focused AI tools on Facebook, both of which could improve engagement and future monetization. Insider Monkey: Meta rolls out new AI features on Facebook for content creators
• Positive Sentiment: Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users, and Meta is adding new community and feed features, reinforcing the company’s platform growth beyond Facebook and Instagram. Yahoo Finance: Meta reaches 500 million Threads users
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s COO Javier Olivan disclosed another pre-planned stock sale, which is notable but not necessarily a fundamental signal since it was executed under a 10b5-1 plan. InsiderTrades: Meta COO sells stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s dividend and long-term shareholder-return profile are supportive, but this is unlikely to be the main short-term stock driver. Finbold: Meta to pay dividends next week
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that Meta is lobbying Congress for legal protection from child-harm lawsuits, keeping regulatory and litigation risk in focus for investors. Reuters: Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns around AI execution also weighed on sentiment after Reuters said a key executive overseeing Meta’s “AI for work” transformation is leaving the company. Reuters: Meta head of product for AI for work transformation is leaving company
• Negative Sentiment: Meta was also hit by reports that attackers exploited its AI customer support chatbot to compromise Instagram accounts, raising trust and security concerns around its AI tools. Yahoo Finance: Meta faces AI support breach as key internal AI executive exits

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $4,769,642.01. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,568 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,365. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of META stock opened at $577.22 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $621.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $634.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.525 dividend. 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%.

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.