Carmel Capital Partners LLC Buys 2,245 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 144.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,245 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,299,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $876,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $352,101,000 after acquiring an additional 29,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $754,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,517 shares in the company, valued at $910,200. The trade was a 45.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total transaction of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,671.08. The trade was a 14.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta agreed to settle claims brought by dozens of U.S. states for up to approximately $16.7 billion to $18 billion, substantially below figures that analysts and states had discussed as potentially reaching $200 billion or more. The deal ends the trial and leaves Meta’s core advertising business, personalized recommendations and targeted advertising largely intact. Meta’s social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains favorable in some quarters: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, while Benchmark and Needham reiterated hold ratings. Investors also continue to point to Meta’s advertising momentum, AI infrastructure and potential to monetize excess computing capacity. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
• Neutral Sentiment: The settlement requires two-hour daily limits for users under 18, overnight blocking from midnight to 6 a.m. without parental consent, muted school-hour notifications, autoplay controls, stronger age checks and expanded parental controls. The measures may reduce engagement, but could also lower future regulatory and litigation risk. Meta settles federal social media addiction trial
• Negative Sentiment: The payout could equal several months of profit, and the agreement’s restrictions may pressure usage and advertising opportunities among younger users. Critics and a case whistleblower said the changes do not adequately address mental-health harms, while the settlement reportedly gives states protection from certain future lawsuits involving children’s data. Whistleblower criticizes Meta settlement
• Negative Sentiment: Regulators in the U.K., South Korea and Australia are urging Meta to apply the safeguards globally, raising the possibility of additional compliance costs and similar actions overseas. Investors are also monitoring Meta’s heavy AI spending and reports that it could spend up to $10 billion annually on Anthropic tools. South Korea urges global youth protections

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $571.10 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $592.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $611.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $790.80. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $785.00 price target (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.22.

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.