Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group increased its Meta Platforms stake by 59.9% in the second quarter, purchasing 557,013 additional shares. Its 1.49 million shares were worth approximately $837.9 million and represented 2.2% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Institutional investors own approximately 79.91% of Meta’s outstanding stock, while several other funds also raised their positions during the quarter.
• Wall Street maintains a generally positive outlook, with Meta receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $792.68; however, insiders sold $51.2 million of stock over the past three months.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 59.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,487,523 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 557,013 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.2% of Alyeska Investment Group L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned approximately 0.06% of Meta Platforms worth $837,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Davidson Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the second quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 89,113 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $50,197,000 after buying an additional 4,320 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% in the second quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 3,192 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 976.0% in the second quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA now owns 3,766 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 757,472 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $426,677,000 after acquiring an additional 64,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,494,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse is gaining rapid user adoption. Muse reportedly surpassed ChatGPT in early U.S. iOS downloads, with approximately 730,000 downloads in its first five days and stronger first-12-day performance than ChatGPT’s mobile launch. The traction is strengthening expectations that Meta can monetize AI through advertising, subscriptions and commerce. Meta Muse downloads article
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships support a broader AI platform strategy. Shopify plans to let Muse complete purchases across its merchant network, while reports also cited interest from services such as Stripe. These integrations could increase Muse’s usefulness and create future transaction or platform revenue opportunities. Shopify Muse checkout article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism added momentum. Wells Fargo raised its Meta price target to $796 from $640 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing Muse’s early traction, recent model launches and the upcoming Connect conference. Wells Fargo price target article
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure investments are being viewed as strategic growth spending. Meta’s planned Alberta data center and reported high-capacity subsea network reinforce its commitment to supporting AI workloads, although the investments could raise near-term costs.
• Neutral Sentiment: Connect is a near-term catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant volatility around Meta’s annual event, where the company may provide updates on Muse, AI models, hardware and monetization plans. Meta Connect trading expectations article
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its website, citing unauthorized access, security and credential concerns. The dispute highlights regulatory, privacy and platform-integration risks that could limit agentic-commerce adoption. Amazon blocks Muse article

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of Meta Platforms 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This trade represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 81,758 shares of company stock valued at $51,214,020 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $785.00 price objective (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Meta Platforms to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $792.68.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $741.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $785.73. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $608.02 and a 200 day moving average of $610.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 27.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

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.

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