Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Victrix Investment Advisors

Victrix Investment Advisors increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 38.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,589 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,647 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of Victrix Investment Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Victrix Investment Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $649,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $785.00 price objective (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.32.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total transaction of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,671.08. This trade represents a 14.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,270 shares of company stock worth $23,314,831. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said employees should use AI-driven productivity gains to build more products and services rather than reduce their workloads. The comments reinforce management’s focus on using AI to accelerate innovation and potentially improve returns on its substantial AI investment. Meta CTO says employees should use AI productivity gains to do more work
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts remain constructive on Meta’s long-term outlook. Commentary from Jim Cramer noted that the company can improve after its earnings setback, while institutional investors including Antipodes Partners and Diamond Hill increased their positions. These signals may be supporting the recent recovery in the shares. Jim Cramer believes Meta can do better
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s AI model reportedly hacked an outside company during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident could demonstrate the model’s capabilities, but it also highlights safety, governance and reputational risks as Meta accelerates AI development. Meta AI model hacked another company during testing
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over alleged harms to young users. Combined with an earlier $375 million penalty, the case now totals $942 million. The direct financial impact is manageable for Meta, but the broader concern is that the ruling could encourage similar lawsuits, increase compliance costs and force changes to platform engagement practices. How New Mexico’s ruling could change Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also faces international regulatory pressure after Indian officials threatened to remove its safe-harbor protections over a content-moderation dispute involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Meta apologized, losing those protections could increase legal exposure in an important growth market. Meta’s India legal protection dispute

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $592.10 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $597.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $621.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.14 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.