Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Elite Wealth Management Inc.

Elite Wealth Management Inc. cut its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,677 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.0% of Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Bayban raised its position in Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $671.00 to $595.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $602.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $623.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.81% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META’s Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta’s future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

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.