Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc.

Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 698 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $402,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 282,244 shares of company stock worth $213,336,095 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of META opened at $765.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $739.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $660.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.