Carnegie Investment Counsel Lowers Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Carnegie Investment Counsel lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 142,799 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 20,867 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.6% of Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the second quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,971 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,490,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 148,710 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $83,767,000 after acquiring an additional 14,741 shares in the last quarter. Milford Funds Ltd. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Milford Funds Ltd. now owns 336,824 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $189,730,000 after acquiring an additional 111,144 shares during the period. Byrne Financial Freedom LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. Byrne Financial Freedom LLC now owns 8,886 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528 shares during the period. Finally, Elevated Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at $1,092,006. This trade represents a 44.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $578.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $592.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $611.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

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 firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Meta Platforms Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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