Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 23,229 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 124,911 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 23,229 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.2% of Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $82,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merrithew & Thorsten Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.57, for a total value of $559,831.82. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,143,118.21. This trade represents a 11.90% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 158,971 shares of company stock worth $101,676,729. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.31.

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 Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $611.21 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $621.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $638.95.

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

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.