Midwest Trust Co Buys 31,253 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Midwest Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 170,676 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,253 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.1% of Midwest Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Midwest Trust Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $96,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $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 4th quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta opened paid developer access to Muse Spark 1.3, with company executives and analysts claiming the model is approaching or matching offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Improved performance and token efficiency could support adoption in coding agents, model APIs, subscriptions and future generative-search advertising. Meta Platforms: Muse Spark 1.3 Was The Warning Shot
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage identifies Muse Spark 1.3 as a new catalyst that could improve confidence in Meta’s AI roadmap and help the company recover toward its prior highs, provided the technology translates into revenue and returns on investment. Meta Rises 4% as Muse Spark 1.3 Claims Parity with Anthropic and OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Some investment commentary views Meta as a major beneficiary of the ongoing AI infrastructure and computing cycle, alongside other hyperscalers, potentially creating a long-term growth opportunity. Hyperscalers Are the Backbone of AI

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares in the company, valued at $462,024. The trade was a 90.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% 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 32,987 shares of company stock valued at $19,202,995 over the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $616.77 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $790.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $596.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.