1,489 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Purchased by Vaquero Private Wealth Ltd.

Key Points

• Vaquero Private Wealth purchased 1,489 Meta shares worth approximately $839,000 during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own about 79.91% of Meta’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with 35 Buy and four Strong Buy ratings; the stock has an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $785.32.
• Meta’s latest quarterly revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding expectations, but earnings per share missed estimates. Investors remain focused on elevated AI spending, potential free-cash-flow pressure, regulatory litigation and insider share sales.

Vaquero Private Wealth Ltd. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,489 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd increased its position in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $785.32.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Pocket in the U.S., an AI-powered app that lets users create and share interactive games through text prompts. The product could increase engagement and expand Meta’s consumer AI ecosystem. Meta brings Pocket to U.S. users
• Positive Sentiment: Meta introduced a Mac app for Meta AI with system-wide dictation and screen-aware assistance. The company is also pricing its new Muse Code coding agent below Anthropic and OpenAI offerings, potentially helping it attract developers and build AI adoption. Meta AI launches Mac app
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong, with quarterly revenue rising 28% year over year to $60.8 billion. AI-related improvements to recommendations and ad delivery are supporting engagement, clicks and conversion efficiency. Meta drawdown analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is contesting the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to revive monopoly charges. The company argues that Facebook and Instagram users increasingly see recommended content rather than posts from friends, a defense that could influence the case’s regulatory implications. Meta fights FTC monopoly charges
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li and insider Curtis Mahoney sold shares worth roughly $10.3 million in aggregate under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. The transactions are limited as discretionary signals but may still affect investor sentiment. Meta insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Child-safety and social-media addiction litigation is intensifying. Testimony alleging that some safety tools were “designed to fail” raises the possibility of major damages, mandated product changes, restrictions on engagement features and pressure on advertising monetization. Meta social media lawsuit trial
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavier AI capital spending will depress second-half free cash flow and increase financial pressure. Those concerns follow Meta’s quarterly EPS miss, despite its revenue beat, and have contributed to the stock’s year-to-date weakness. Meta stock investment analysis

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $549.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $593.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $615.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $790.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $910,200. The trade was a 45.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company'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 value of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,092,006. This represents a 44.34% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,502 shares of company stock valued at $22,603,485. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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