Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 103,635 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 8.0% in Q1, now owning approximately 1.4 million shares valued at $806.89 million, making it the firm's 11th largest holding.
• Institutional investors collectively own about 79.91% of Meta Platforms, with other firms like GAMMA Investing LLC and Invesco also significantly increasing their positions during the same period.
• Despite a 1.7% decline in stock price recently, Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 per share for the latest quarter, significantly exceeding the analysts' expectations of $5.75.

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,399,983 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 103,635 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.6% of Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Meta Platforms worth $806,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 11,061 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,375,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the period. Tumwater Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Tumwater Wealth Management LLC now owns 493 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 15,028 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,662,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Aragon Global Management LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $9,559,000. Finally, Stony Point Capital LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 73.0% during the 1st quarter. Stony Point Capital LLC now owns 67,206 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $38,735,000 after purchasing an additional 28,367 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 312,767 shares of company stock valued at $234,716,347 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $3.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $735.05. 7,624,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,957,761. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $736.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $657.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.