Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stake Decreased by Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,389 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,030,399,000 after acquiring an additional 280,357 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 247,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ META opened at $754.10 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $732.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $657.92.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 312,767 shares of company stock worth $234,618,139. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.