Sculptor Capital LP Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sculptor Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 141,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,977,361,000 after buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7%

META stock opened at $738.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $735.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $658.90. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s 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 owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 313,803 shares of company stock worth $235,398,025. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.