Seaview Investment Managers LLC Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Seaview Investment Managers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,794 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.2% of Seaview Investment Managers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Seaview Investment Managers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched a new Meta Business Agent for WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, targeting enterprise customers and giving investors a potential new revenue stream beyond advertising. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Meta won a partial legal victory in Europe over the EU’s treatment of Marketplace under tech rules, easing one regulatory overhang. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive overall, with at least one recent upgrade to strong-buy and multiple bullish price targets tied to Meta’s commerce and AI initiatives. Finviz reference

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,860 shares of company stock valued at $26,555,260. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $627.57 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $618.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $636.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.