Calton & Associates Inc. Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Calton & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 169.9% in Q1, owning 1,792 shares worth approximately $1.03 million.
• Multiple hedge funds modified their positions in Meta, with Brighton Jones LLC and Revolve Wealth Partners LLC both increasing their stakes, while institutional investors now own 79.91% of the stock.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 per share in its latest quarter, exceeding estimates and driving a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Calton & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 169.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,792 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the quarter. Calton & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 312,767 shares of company stock valued at $234,716,347 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 target price (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $3.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $735.11. 9,294,340 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,485,708. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $736.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $657.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.