Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New $144.96 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 253,373 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,961,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bollard Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the first quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 20,514 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,737,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Point Break Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 90.8% in the first quarter. Point Break Capital Management LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,217,000 after purchasing an additional 6,835 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the first quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 37,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 21.2% in the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 1,966 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pennington Partners & CO. LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 92.0% during the first quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $593.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $603.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $624.67. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Meta’s advertising business to benefit from higher impressions, stronger user engagement and AI-powered ad targeting. Consensus expectations call for approximately $60.2 billion in revenue and $7.18 in earnings per share, while traders anticipate a sizable post-earnings move. Will Higher Ad Revenues Aid Meta Platforms Stock in Q2 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its buy rating and assigned an $800 price target, implying substantial upside from recent levels. Meta’s comparatively modest valuation and history of earnings beats could support the shares if results and guidance exceed expectations. Guggenheim rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and BlackRock formed an approximately $14 billion venture to develop a one-gigawatt AI data-center campus in El Paso, Texas. The 80/20 structure brings outside capital into Meta’s infrastructure expansion and may reduce near-term balance-sheet pressure while securing future computing capacity. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to emphasize Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and its broader AI strategy on the earnings call. It also joined Nvidia, Alphabet and OpenAI in supporting open-weight AI models, potentially influencing future product development and regulation. Meta likely to highlight smart glasses
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are increasingly concerned that AI capital expenditures—potentially reaching $125 billion to $145 billion—will compress margins and weaken free cash flow before Meta develops a direct AI revenue stream. Alphabet’s higher spending forecast has intensified skepticism toward hyperscaler stocks. Hyperscalers face higher capex scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces ongoing lawsuits alleging harm to teenagers and inadequate safeguards against abuse on its platforms, creating potential financial liabilities and reputational damage. COO Javier Olivan also sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, although insider selling is not necessarily a bearish signal. Meta disregarded its own research on teen harm

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on META. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 37,859 shares of company stock worth $23,087,979 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.