Piedmont Capital Management LLC NC Buys Shares of 1,867 Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Piedmont Capital Management LLC NC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,867 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.8% of Piedmont Capital Management LLC NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,553,102 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,788,429,000 after purchasing an additional 823,883 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the sale, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at $2,481,290.47. The trade was a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% 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. Insiders have sold 39,170 shares of company stock valued at $24,218,565 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched new Facebook AI Mode features that pull answers from public information across its apps, including Groups and Reels, which analysts say could create a major new revenue stream and improve engagement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Options traders are showing bullish interest after Meta’s AI-fueled pop, suggesting investors are positioning for further upside tied to the new product rollout. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Meta’s chip ambitions and broader AI strategy is reinforcing the view that its massive AI capex could eventually translate into greater control over infrastructure and better margins. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several investor-commentary pieces pointed to long-term value creation and argued Meta’s valuation looks attractive versus its growth, but these were mainly opinion-driven rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are still weighing Meta’s huge AI spending, which some articles say could pressure profitability or even raise questions about future financing and dilution if the company keeps ramping investment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing reputational and regulatory headwinds, including criticism over AI-unit working conditions, the unwind of its Manus deal, and a proposed UK social media ban for users under 16 that could weigh on future engagement. Article Title

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.7%

NASDAQ META opened at $593.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $621.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $635.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

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.