Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 40.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,383 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 101,645 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $86,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted 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 worth $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI spending narrative improves: Strong earnings from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and other cloud companies suggest enterprise AI demand remains robust, supporting the case for continued infrastructure investment and potentially greater monetization of Meta’s AI tools and recommendation systems. Amazon Just Flipped the AI Capex Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation attracts buyers: Multiple analyses describe Meta as inexpensive relative to its growth, citing a forward P/E near 17 and expectations for approximately 40% upside. Evercore’s Mark Mahaney reportedly named Meta a top large-cap idea with an $820 price target, while other analysts also maintain bullish views. Meta Named a Top Large-Cap Long Idea
• Positive Sentiment: Core advertising business remains strong: Recent coverage highlights rising revenue, ad impressions, ad prices and user engagement. Investors are encouraged that Meta’s AI investments may already be improving targeting, recommendations and advertising performance. Mark Zuckerberg Says He’s Betting Big on AI Compute
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings showed substantial growth: Meta’s latest quarter produced $60.8 billion in revenue, up 28% year over year and above estimates. That growth, combined with a comparatively low valuation, is driving “buy-the-dip” recommendations. Is Meta Stock a Buy on the Dip?
• Neutral Sentiment: International exposure is a key variable: Investors are assessing Meta’s dependence on overseas revenue, including the stability of international advertising demand and currency-related risks. Meta International Revenues Trends
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment remains the main risk: Meta’s earnings miss and concerns about sharply higher capital expenditures, weaker free cash flow and the timing of returns caused the recent post-earnings pressure. Some analysts have also reduced price targets, including Bank of America to $810 and Monness Crespi & Hardt to $730. What’s Going on With Meta Stock?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 position. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,770 shares of company stock valued at $23,034,051. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $590.24 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $600.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $622.55. The company has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.91%.

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.