Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC

SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,576 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,380 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,153,754 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,597,374,000 after purchasing an additional 142,229 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,332,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,525,258,000 after purchasing an additional 558,792 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,619,341 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,001,772,000 after buying an additional 481,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $659.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $517.50 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $627.63 and its 200-day moving average is $650.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.83 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Scotiabank increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $820.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 target price (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $837.09.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support: Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” and $850 price target and other firms (Deutsche Bank, Citizens) remain constructive, highlighting AI-driven ad upside and margin leverage. Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating, $850 PT
• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank and others emphasize AI investments could strengthen Meta’s core advertising product and lift monetization, supporting bullish price targets. This Is the Impact of AI on Meta Platforms’ Core Advertising Business
• Positive Sentiment: Product and engagement catalysts — Threads added Live Chats and Meta Quest gained DirecTV streaming, which could help user engagement and new content monetization paths. Live Chats Are Now on Threads You Can Now Stream DirecTV on Your Meta Quest Headset
• Neutral Sentiment: Account and UX improvements: Meta is revamping its cross-app Meta Account system to streamline logins and device management — a product-level improvement with unclear near-term revenue impact. Meta Is Revamping Its Cross-App Management System
• Neutral Sentiment: Safety/parent tools: Meta added a feature letting parents see topics teens ask Meta AI about; reputationally positive but unlikely to move near-term revenue. Parents Can Now See What Their Kids Are Asking Meta AI About
• Negative Sentiment: Large workforce reduction: Meta will cut ~8,000 roles (10% of staff) and freeze hiring for ~6,000 open positions to “run more efficiently” and offset AI capex — the scale of the move signals heavy near-term restructuring and underscores how costly Meta’s AI buildout remains. Meta Prepares 8,000 Layoffs to Offset AI Infrastructure Investments
• Negative Sentiment: Employee-tracking controversy: Reports that Meta is logging employee keystrokes, clicks and mouse activity to train AI raise privacy/ethical concerns and potential regulatory scrutiny. Meta Is Tracking Employee Usage on Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and ESG pressures: New shareholder proposals, recent court rulings around teen addiction liability and a consumer suit over ad-related scams increase potential legal costs and reputational risk. Meta Verdict Poised to Shift Platform Liability Consumer Watchdog Group Files Suit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Olivan disclosed multi-hundred-thousand-dollar share sales under a 10b5-1 plan, a data point some investors watch as a mild negative signal. SEC Filing: Javier Olivan Share Sales

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,565,949. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total value of $629,763.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,549,946.79. This trade represents a 8.77% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.