Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 679.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,194 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.57, for a total transaction of $559,831.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,853 shares in the company, valued at $4,143,118.21. This represents a 11.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total transaction of $386,860.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,565,949. This represents a 13.10% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 158,971 shares of company stock valued at $101,676,729. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $611.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $621.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $638.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 EPS for the current year.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI and advertising strategy still appears to be generating real business results, with one analysis pointing to strong ad impressions, higher ad prices, and continued revenue growth that could help justify its heavy capital spending. Meta’s Selloff Looks Like A Major Misread
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced new parental supervision tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Horizon, which could support trust and platform engagement over time. Meta’s new tools allow parents to better supervise their kids’ social media accounts. Will they work?
• Positive Sentiment: Zefr said it is deepening its partnership with Meta by adding AI-powered pre-bid controls to Threads, a sign that advertisers continue building on Meta’s newer products. Zefr Deepens Meta Partnership, Bringing AI-Powered Pre-Bid Controls to Threads Feed
• Neutral Sentiment: Several hedge-fund filings showed mixed investor sentiment, with some managers adding to Meta while others trimmed stakes, offering no clear single-direction signal for the shares. Tiger Global boosts Meta Platforms stake by 336,249 shares
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is starting layoffs affecting about 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, and expects the cuts to roll out in waves this week and possibly continue later in the year. Meta layoffs starting this week stress harsh AI reality inside Zuckerberg’s company
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is reorganizing 7,000 employees toward AI and telling workers to stay remote during the layoff process reinforce fears that rising AI investment is creating pressure on headcount and margins. Meta Reassigns 7,000 Employees to Focus on A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around Meta’s “brutal” AI spending and large-scale job cuts is fueling concern that capital expenditures are getting too large before investors see enough return. Meta’s 8,000 Job Cuts To Foot The $145B AI Bill

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.