Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Position Increased by Verus Capital Partners LLC

Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,352 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,524 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $556.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $601.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $622.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate. Meta: Buy The AI Spending Panic
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already improving ad performance, personalization and user engagement. Meta also highlighted potential enterprise AI products, personal AI agents and new applications. Buy Meta’s Earnings Drop
• Positive Sentiment: Despite reductions, major firms retained bullish ratings and price targets, including UBS at $715, Baird at $750, Cantor Fitzgerald at $680 and Rosenblatt at $883. The targets imply substantial long-term upside if Meta converts AI spending into monetization. Meta Given New Price Target at Baird
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings miss was partly affected by approximately $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance costs. Excluding these items, supporters argue that underlying profitability was healthier, but reported margins still declined.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta reported $6.18 in quarterly EPS, below expectations near $7.19, while free cash flow fell to only $784 million from $31.9 billion in operating cash flow as AI data-center capital expenditures surged. Investors remain unconvinced that the spending will generate adequate returns soon. Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag
• Negative Sentiment: Future AI-related lease obligations reached $279 billion, increasing concerns about balance-sheet commitments and execution risk. Additional legal and regulatory pressure includes a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that social-media companies harmed minors, plus an Indian police case involving Meta’s India chief over Facebook posts depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s AI Splurge Lays Bare Its Compute Conundrum

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.

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.