Byrne Financial Freedom LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 39.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,886 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.0% of Byrne Financial Freedom LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Byrne Financial Freedom LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Key Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta's social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
- Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta's AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
- Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
- Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
- Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta's child-safety deal and age verification
- Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total value of $280,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,671.08. The trade was a 14.52% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $785.22.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Meta Platforms stock opened at $578.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $790.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $592.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $611.61.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). 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 analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.14 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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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