Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is North Dakota State Investment Board’s 10th Largest Position

North Dakota State Investment Board increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,930 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.5% of North Dakota State Investment Board’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. North Dakota State Investment Board’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $36,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the fourth 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. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 10,043,955 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,629,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,211 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta opened paid developer access to Muse Spark 1.3, with company executives and analysts claiming the model is approaching or matching offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Improved performance and token efficiency could support adoption in coding agents, model APIs, subscriptions and future generative-search advertising. Meta Platforms: Muse Spark 1.3 Was The Warning Shot
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage identifies Muse Spark 1.3 as a new catalyst that could improve confidence in Meta’s AI roadmap and help the company recover toward its prior highs, provided the technology translates into revenue and returns on investment. Meta Rises 4% as Muse Spark 1.3 Claims Parity with Anthropic and OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Some investment commentary views Meta as a major beneficiary of the ongoing AI infrastructure and computing cycle, alongside other hyperscalers, potentially creating a long-term growth opportunity. Hyperscalers Are the Backbone of AI

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.22.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,652,671.08. This represents a 14.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 32,987 shares of company stock valued at $19,202,995 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $616.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $596.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $609.26.

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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

About Meta Platforms

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.