Sculptor Capital LP Sells 8,800 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sculptor Capital LP trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 91,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 8,800 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardiff Park Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Cardiff Park Advisors LLC now owns 182,387 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $104,349,000 after buying an additional 2,433 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 240.7% in the first quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,362 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,650,000 after acquiring an additional 14,385 shares during the period. Ardmore Road Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $57,785,000. Styrax Capital LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the first quarter. Styrax Capital LP now owns 307,981 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $176,205,000 after acquiring an additional 16,512 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Global Management LP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.7% during the first quarter. Delta Global Management LP now owns 25,733 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.74.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

META stock opened at $585.61 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $603.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $624.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last ninety days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue increased 27%, ad impressions grew 14%, and average price per ad rose 12%, indicating that Meta’s core advertising business remains robust. Meta stock sinks as Q2 earnings disappoint on multiple fronts
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said Reality Labs lost more than $4.6 billion, but the loss was narrower than analysts expected. The company also continues pursuing enterprise AI, including business agents for customer service and other workplace functions. Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: A $14 billion El Paso data-center venture with BlackRock will help Meta secure approximately one gigawatt of AI capacity while sharing financing and balance-sheet risk. The structure could reduce the immediate burden of Meta’s infrastructure buildout, although Meta remains the facility’s primary tenant. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 price target, while a Seeking Alpha analysis cited a normalized operating margin of roughly 36.8% after excluding legal and severance charges. Meta Platforms Q2: The Market Sells, I Buy The Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta forecast third-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, broadly around but slightly below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint. No EPS outlook was provided in the reported guidance. Zuckerberg also promoted open AI development and opposed restrictions on Chinese AI models, positions that may support innovation but could attract regulatory scrutiny. Zuckerberg says Meta’s enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS fell to $6.18, missing estimates near $7.1–$7.2 and declining from $7.14 a year earlier. Results were pressured by approximately $2.4 billion of legal costs and $1.2 billion of severance expenses. Meta misses profit expectations, sticks to massive AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and data-center infrastructure this year, with the minimum raised by $5 billion. Investors fear the spending will compress margins and free cash flow before a direct AI revenue stream is proven. Meta shares tumble as AI spending stuns Wall Street
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his holdings in two transactions. Because the sales were scheduled, they are a limited bearish signal but may reinforce investor caution. SEC insider transaction filing

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.