Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,385 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,264 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.4% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,748 shares of company stock worth $27,565,292. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Benchmark assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $631.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $598.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $626.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Spark 1.1, an upgraded multimodal AI model with agentic coding features and public developer access, signaling a more serious push into enterprise AI and paid API usage. Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta plans to start manufacturing its own AI chip in September point to a potential reduction in GPU costs and better control over future AI infrastructure spending. Meta to put AI chip into production in September as it looks to double computing capacity, memo shows
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s expanding AI infrastructure buildout, including a new large data center in Canada and a reported 250MW energy supply agreement, supports the view that the company is preparing for much larger AI demand. Meta plans billions for first AI data center in Canada, largest outside the US
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and bullish articles argue Meta’s heavy AI spending could eventually translate into higher margins, compute monetization, and stronger ad products, helping justify the stock’s valuation. Alphabet vs. Meta: Which AI Stock Is the Better Buy Right Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage notes Meta’s valuation, aggressive capex, and competition from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, which keeps investor expectations balanced even as AI momentum improves. META’s $9B AI Infrastructure Bet, Cloud Ambitions: Is the Stock a Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: There are still concerns that Meta is spending heavily on AI before proving enough near-term returns, and one report said the stock had dipped earlier as capex worries resurfaced. Meta Stock Dips as AI Capex Concerns Arise

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.