Burling Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Burling Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,336 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.0% of Burling Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Burling Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its position 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 worth $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $595.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $604.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $625.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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 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.