Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Buys 938 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Alpine Woods Capital Investors increased its Meta stake by 24.6%, purchasing 938 additional shares to hold 4,747 shares valued at approximately $2.67 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.91% of Meta.
• Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $787.54, despite some firms lowering their targets.
• Meta reported 28% year-over-year revenue growth to $60.8 billion, though quarterly EPS of $6.18 missed expectations. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing a 0.3% yield.

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 24.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,747 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 938 shares during the quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Abbot Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $352,101,000 after purchasing an additional 29,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 118,460 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $78,195,000 after buying an additional 2,871 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $787.54.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse gains early consumer traction: Meta’s new AI agent reportedly reached No. 2 or No. 3 on the U.S. App Store shortly after its launch. Muse can interact with social platforms and outside services, while paid tiers priced at $20 and $100 per month create a potential new revenue stream beyond advertising. Meta's AI agent Muse is now the No. 2 app in the US
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan upgraded the stock: JPMorgan raised Meta to Overweight from Neutral and increased its price target to $820, citing meaningful growth potential from frontier AI models and agentic products. The upgrade helped reinforce the bullish view that Meta can diversify beyond advertising. JPMorgan upgrades Meta on AI models and agents
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure optionality: Analysts believe Meta’s large AI-compute investments could eventually support a cloud-computing or infrastructure business, adding an opportunity not currently reflected in the valuation. The company’s strong revenue growth and substantial cash resources support this investment thesis.
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525-per-share dividend payable September 28 to shareholders of record September 21. While the yield is modest, the payout signals confidence in ongoing cash generation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Legal settlement viewed as manageable: Commentary suggests Meta’s potential $18 billion social-media-addiction settlement, spread over a decade, may have a limited impact on annual free cash flow. Resolving the litigation could also remove an overhang, but the headline liability remains material.
• Negative Sentiment: Monetization and privacy concerns: Muse’s usefulness depends on access to users’ inboxes, accounts and payments, raising adoption and privacy questions. Analysts remain uncertain about conversion rates and near-term revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution and regulatory risks: A prominent AI researcher is leaving Meta for Anthropic, while an internal effort to capture employee screens for AI training reportedly triggered resistance. Meta is also discussing possible teen social-media restrictions in South Korea, and TikTok rejected Meta advertisements urging participation in a child-safety settlement.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 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 $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares in the company, valued at $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,581 shares of company stock valued at $37,512,295. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $648.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $601.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $608.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.14 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.91%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

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