Corient IA LLC Acquires New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Corient IA LLC invested $548,000 in Meta Platforms, acquiring 950 shares in the first quarter, highlighting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Meta Platforms experienced several positive analyst rating changes, with 39 analysts issuing a buy rating and a consensus price target of $822.41.
• The company reported a strong performance in its last quarterly earnings, with earnings per share of $7.14 exceeding estimates and revenue up 21.6% year-over-year.

Corient IA LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 950 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $15.89 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $751.48. 12,216,778 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,316,512. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $726.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $656.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $784.32, for a total value of $364,708.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,877 shares in the company, valued at $6,962,408.64. The trade was a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business's 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 in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.