Cooper Financial Group Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Cooper Financial Group cut its Meta position by 17.2% in the third quarter, selling 2,490 shares and retaining 12,009 shares valued at approximately $8.7 million.
• Institutional investors own about 79.9% of Meta’s outstanding shares, while analysts remain broadly optimistic, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $791.86.
• Meta shares opened at $721.31, near the upper end of their 52-week range, despite the company missing quarterly EPS estimates; revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion.

Cooper Financial Group lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 17.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,009 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,490 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 723.1% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,957,946,000 after buying an additional 7,732,446 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,948,486,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $51,841,811,000 after buying an additional 3,510,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. China Renaissance cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $820.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $955.00 to $855.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $580.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $791.86.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta Platforms to $1,000 from $796 while maintaining an Overweight rating. The analyst cited strong investor enthusiasm for Meta’s Muse AI product cycle. Wells Fargo raises Meta price target to $1,000
• Positive Sentiment: Meta expanded its Muse personal AI assistant to a dedicated iPad application shortly after its mobile debut. Strong app-download rankings could help Meta build user engagement and create future monetization opportunities, although sustained usage remains unproven. Meta Muse launches on iPad
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and Sierra are developing the Personal Agent Protocol with companies including Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. A common standard for AI agents to interact with businesses could strengthen Meta’s position in emerging agent-based commerce. Meta and Sierra launch AI-agent protocol
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts maintain a generally favorable view, with 44 of 57 covering firms rating the stock Buy and the consensus recommendation at Moderate Buy. Meta receives Moderate Buy consensus
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor Dan Niles suggested Meta could eventually launch a public cloud business to monetize its AI infrastructure, but this remains speculation rather than a disclosed company plan. Dan Niles discusses Meta cloud opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports clarified that AMD’s stock milestone does not automatically give Meta 160 million AMD shares; the companies’ warrant arrangements have been subject to inaccurate interpretations. AMD and Meta warrant clarification
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares worth roughly $1.15 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature reduces the signal’s significance, but the sales can still add short-term pressure after Meta’s recent advance. Meta COO insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Investors also face macroeconomic pressure from interest rates above 5% and a potential multibillion-dollar New Mexico penalty, with a ruling expected this month. The legal exposure remains uncertain but represents a material risk. New Mexico legal case involving Meta

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 946 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $728.08, for a total value of $688,763.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,735,814.24. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 27,474 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $777.44, for a total value of $21,359,386.56. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 148,222 shares of company stock worth $101,033,627 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $721.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.19. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $634.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $618.50. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $779.82.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 27.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.91%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company operates a global family of apps that includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, enabling users to connect, communicate, share content and discover communities.

Meta generates most of its business through digital advertising displayed across its platforms. Its products serve individuals, creators, businesses and organizations in markets around the world, while its advertising tools help businesses reach audiences based on factors such as interests, activity and demographics.

Through its Reality Labs division, Meta develops virtual and augmented reality hardware, software and services, including the Meta Quest line of headsets and related experiences.

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