5 Companies That Announced Huge Share Buybacks Recently

1. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 220

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a tech firm that owns and runs social media platforms. In April, the parent company of Facebook reported lower fourth-quarter profit and revenue due to a downturn in online advertising and competition from platforms like TikTok. Despite this, the shares jumped as revenue surpassed expectations and a $40 billion stock buyback was announced. 

On May 23, Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion maintained an Overweight rating on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stock with a price target of $270, backing the firm to use AI to drive higher user engagement, develop better, more automated advertiser tools, and create an open-source AI ecosystem. 

At the end of the first quarter of 2023, 220 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $25 billion in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), compared to 194 in the preceding quarter worth $15 billion. 

In its Q1 2023 investor letter, Artisan Partners, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Our top contributors in Q1 were Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and FedEx. Following sharp declines in 2022, shares of Meta Platforms have more than doubled since their early November 2022 lows. Last year’s drawdown created a highly favorable risk-reward, which we took advantage of by adding to our position. Management has wisely, in our view, recalibrated its spending plans to focus on profitability amid a weaker advertising environment, increased TikTok competition and Apple’s privacy changes. While investors got ahead of themselves back in 2021, extrapolating pandemic growth rates into the future, Meta is still a highly successful enterprise generating over $120 billion of revenue annually on a run-rate basis and has more than $40 billion in cash on its balance sheet to help it navigate its future course. Recent usage and engagement trends for Facebook and Instagram have been positive, and Reels—Meta’s answer to TikTok—is gaining traction.”

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