Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 404,948 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,429,812 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 404,948 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.2% of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,964,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $595.19 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $604.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $625.76. 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 capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

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.