EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $108.27 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

EP Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 187,851 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,923 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.9% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $108,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,162,918,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $738.70 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $736.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $657.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of Meta Platforms 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 312,767 shares of company stock valued at $234,716,347 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.