Cumberland Partners Ltd Buys 4,616 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 4,616 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 3.9% of Cumberland Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $63,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 28,121 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,562,000 after buying an additional 2,375 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 105,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,309,000 after buying an additional 28,000 shares during the period. Daviman Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $545,000. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,485,000. Finally, Cadence Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 40,890 shares of company stock valued at $25,315,558. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price target (down from $880.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.19.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Meta and set an $810 price target, signaling meaningful upside from current levels. Tickerreport.com
• Positive Sentiment: A new AI adoption study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies for AI execution, reinforcing the view that its AI investments are becoming strategically important. CNBC
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and said Meta’s AI monetization and enterprise adoption could help offset concerns about rising spending. Yahoo Finance / Investing.com
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets highlighted Meta as a top AI and virtual reality stock, adding to the longer-term bullish narrative around its product pipeline and AI push. Motley Fool

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1%

META stock opened at $600.47 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $617.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $636.73. The company has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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