Orographic Financial Advisors LLC Invests $671,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Orographic Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $671,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This trade 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 have sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $556.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $601.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $622.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

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.