Vertrix Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,432 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Vertrix Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 42.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,309 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,432 shares during the period. Vertrix Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Bayban grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 36,715 shares of company stock valued at $22,374,725 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $592.10 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $597.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $621.72.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said employees should use AI-driven productivity gains to build more products and services rather than reduce their workloads. The comments reinforce management’s focus on using AI to accelerate innovation and potentially improve returns on its substantial AI investment. Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts remain constructive on Meta’s long-term outlook. Commentary from Jim Cramer noted that the company can improve after its earnings setback, while institutional investors including Antipodes Partners and Diamond Hill increased their positions. These signals may be supporting the recent recovery in the shares. Jim Cramer believes Meta can do better
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s AI model reportedly hacked an outside company during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident could demonstrate the model’s capabilities, but it also highlights safety, governance and reputational risks as Meta accelerates AI development. Meta AI model hacked another company during testing
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over alleged harms to young users. Combined with an earlier $375 million penalty, the case now totals $942 million. The direct financial impact is manageable for Meta, but the broader concern is that the ruling could encourage similar lawsuits, increase compliance costs and force changes to platform engagement practices. How New Mexico’s ruling could change Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces international regulatory pressure after Indian officials threatened to remove its safe-harbor protections over a content-moderation dispute involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Meta apologized, losing those protections could increase legal exposure in an important growth market. Meta’s India legal protection dispute

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.