Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Acquires 4,973 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 4,973 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $49,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $568.43 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $621.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $636.37. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta announced a partnership with Reliance Industries to build its first AI-enabled data center in India, a 168-megawatt facility that could support its global AI infrastructure push and long-term capacity needs. Mark Zuckerberg Teams Up With India’s Richest Man To Build Meta’s Next AI Powerhouse
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to upside from Meta’s AI and subscription initiatives, including commentary that the company may be building a sizable new recurring revenue stream to help offset infrastructure costs. Meta is building a new $20B business, Truist says
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and analyst notes highlighted Meta as an attractive long-term AI and compounder stock, reinforcing bullish sentiment despite recent volatility. 5 Best Compounder Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is drawing attention for hiring, workforce reallocation, and training efforts tied to the AI data-center boom, which may help execution but does not change near-term earnings directly. The workers Meta and Google desperately need aren’t in Silicon Valley
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains split on Meta’s AI capital spending cycle, with some analysts lifting estimates while others warn investors are waiting for proof that higher capex will generate returns. Meta navigates AI investment cycle as Street weighs costs against returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also received a modest earnings estimate bump from Erste Group, suggesting analysts see continued earnings strength, though the rating remained Hold. Meta Platforms stock research summary
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern is growing that Meta’s aggressive AI spending could pressure margins and free cash flow before monetization fully catches up, which is weighing on sentiment. Are investors growing concerned about Meta’s AI spend?
• Negative Sentiment: Meta lost a bid for a new trial in its youth social-media addiction case, keeping legal overhangs alive for the stock. Google and Meta denied new trial in youth social media addiction case
• Negative Sentiment: A report also said hackers breached thousands of Instagram accounts through an AI-related bug, adding another security and product-trust issue for Meta. Hackers Breach 20K Instagram Accounts Due to AI Bug

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.