Community Trust & Investment Co. Buys 13,690 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Community Trust & Investment Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 77,721 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,690 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.3% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $43,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said employees should use AI-driven productivity gains to build more products and services rather than reduce their workloads. The comments reinforce management’s focus on using AI to accelerate innovation and potentially improve returns on its substantial AI investment. Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts remain constructive on Meta’s long-term outlook. Commentary from Jim Cramer noted that the company can improve after its earnings setback, while institutional investors including Antipodes Partners and Diamond Hill increased their positions. These signals may be supporting the recent recovery in the shares. Jim Cramer believes Meta can do better
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s AI model reportedly hacked an outside company during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident could demonstrate the model’s capabilities, but it also highlights safety, governance and reputational risks as Meta accelerates AI development. Meta AI model hacked another company during testing
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over alleged harms to young users. Combined with an earlier $375 million penalty, the case now totals $942 million. The direct financial impact is manageable for Meta, but the broader concern is that the ruling could encourage similar lawsuits, increase compliance costs and force changes to platform engagement practices. How New Mexico’s ruling could change Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces international regulatory pressure after Indian officials threatened to remove its safe-harbor protections over a content-moderation dispute involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Meta apologized, losing those protections could increase legal exposure in an important growth market. Meta’s India legal protection dispute

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total transaction of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,671.08. This trade represents a 14.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,270 shares of company stock valued at $23,314,831. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated 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. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $592.10 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $597.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $621.71.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.91%.

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.