Private Advisory Group LLC Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Private Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 43,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,329 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.3% of Private Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Private Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 56.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 10,043,955 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,629,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,211 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $613.48 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $598.23 and its 200 day moving average is $608.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $869,922.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,092,006. The trade was a 44.34% 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. Insiders sold a total of 36,227 shares of company stock worth $21,205,509 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent that can interact with Facebook, Instagram and third-party applications to perform tasks such as sending emails, booking travel, shopping and making payments. The product includes free and paid subscription tiers, offering a potential new revenue stream beyond digital advertising. Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps to send emails, make payments
• Positive Sentiment: The rollout follows the release of Muse Spark 1.3, a model aimed at coding and extended agentic tasks. Investors viewed the development as evidence that Meta’s substantial AI investment could eventually generate financial returns; Bank of America reportedly continues to see meaningful upside in the stock. Meta stock jumps 4% after Muse Spark 1.3: why BofA still sees 32% upside
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and Panmnesia proposed a data-center architecture designed to connect computing resources more tightly for extremely large AI models. The initiative supports Meta’s strategy of building extensive AI infrastructure and could improve long-term computing efficiency. One Chip, One Datacenter: Meta and Panmnesia Extend Tight Coupling Beyond the Rack with CXL
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Meta’s large AI infrastructure spending, reportedly including a potential $130 billion capital-expenditure commitment. Strong advertising growth and user monetization support the investment case, but the scale of spending raises execution and return-on-investment concerns. Wall Street Keeps Asking How Much Meta Will Spend
• Negative Sentiment: Muse increases Meta’s exposure to privacy, security and consumer-trust concerns because it can access sensitive information and act across other applications. Reports noted internal concerns about potential misuse or mishandling of personal data, which could increase regulatory and reputational risks. Meta pushes into personal AI agents as company faces public reckoning over privacy and safety
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces continuing legal pressure, including a reported lawsuit alleging facial-recognition data was used to train smart-glasses systems. Separately, the company’s chief accounting officer sold 3,240 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan; the planned nature of the sale reduces its significance, but insider selling may weigh modestly on sentiment.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company’s principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.