Amundi Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Amundi increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,858,972 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,815,017 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.8% of Amundi's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Amundi owned 0.47% of Meta Platforms worth $6,784,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gould Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.0% during the first quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 2,641 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.1% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,980 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $15,436,000 after purchasing an additional 3,343 shares during the period. Talon Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $968,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.5% in the first quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 422 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, RDST Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. RDST Capital LLC now owns 99,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $57,001,000 after purchasing an additional 37,225 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $785.00 price target (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $789.95.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.3%

META opened at $556.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $601.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $622.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate. Meta: Buy The AI Spending Panic
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already improving ad performance, personalization and user engagement. Meta also highlighted potential enterprise AI products, personal AI agents and new applications. Buy Meta’s Earnings Drop
• Positive Sentiment: Despite reductions, major firms retained bullish ratings and price targets, including UBS at $715, Baird at $750, Cantor Fitzgerald at $680 and Rosenblatt at $883. The targets imply substantial long-term upside if Meta converts AI spending into monetization. Meta Given New Price Target at Baird
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings miss was partly affected by approximately $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance costs. Excluding these items, supporters argue that underlying profitability was healthier, but reported margins still declined.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta reported $6.18 in quarterly EPS, below expectations near $7.19, while free cash flow fell to only $784 million from $31.9 billion in operating cash flow as AI data-center capital expenditures surged. Investors remain unconvinced that the spending will generate adequate returns soon. Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag
• Negative Sentiment: Future AI-related lease obligations reached $279 billion, increasing concerns about balance-sheet commitments and execution risk. Additional legal and regulatory pressure includes a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that social-media companies harmed minors, plus an Indian police case involving Meta’s India chief over Facebook posts depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s AI Splurge Lays Bare Its Compute Conundrum

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.

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