Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Clough Capital Partners L P

Key Points

• Clough Capital Partners L P increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 79.0% during Q1, owning 71,892 shares valued at approximately $41.44 million.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Meta, with Goldman Sachs increasing theirs to $690 and HSBC to $900, indicating growing confidence in the company's performance.
• Meta Platforms reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, significantly surpassing analysts' expectations of $5.75 EPS, with a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Clough Capital Partners L P boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 79.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,892 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 31,730 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 5.2% of Clough Capital Partners L P's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Clough Capital Partners L P's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:META traded down $10.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $728.54. The stock had a trading volume of 5,178,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,946,220. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50 day moving average is $736.54 and its 200-day moving average is $657.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,394,225. This represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $755.11, for a total transaction of $390,391.87. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,522,692.21. This represents a 3.94% 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 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Company 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.