Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Sells 17,074 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,109 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 17,074 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.5% of Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $42,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ META opened at $602.61 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $620.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $637.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 171,517 shares of company stock valued at $109,138,067. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta began laying off about 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a broader AI-first transformation. The move highlights rising restructuring costs and suggests more cuts could follow later this year. Meta Begins Laying Off 8,000 Employees Amid A.I. Transformation
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is cutting jobs while ramping up AI investment have kept attention on margin pressure and the scale of the company’s AI spending bill, which some investors view as a near-term drag on earnings. Meta Moves 7,000 Workers Into AI Roles Ahead of Job Cuts
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta offered rival AI chatbot makers limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe before charging once usage limits are reached. The move could support platform engagement and developer adoption, but the financial impact is still unclear. Exclusive: Meta offers AI rival chatbots limited free WhatsApp access, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also drew attention for new AI-related product and safety initiatives, including an incognito chat feature for WhatsApp’s AI assistant and new parental supervision tools, but these are not likely to move the stock in the near term. Meta Platforms (META) Launching Incognito Chat for WhatsApp AI Assistant

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.31.

About Meta Platforms

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.