Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Has $91.99 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Diamond Hill Capital Management increased its Meta stake by 11.4% during the second quarter, owning 163,309 shares valued at approximately $91.99 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.91% of Meta’s stock.
• Meta shares were trading at $653.69, up 6.6%, with a market capitalization of roughly $1.67 trillion. The stock carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target of $785.22.
• Meta’s latest quarterly earnings missed estimates at $6.18 per share versus $7.19 expected, although revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.80 billion. Insiders sold $21.2 million worth of shares over the past 90 days, including sales by the chief accounting officer and chief financial officer under pre-arranged trading plans.

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,309 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 16,720 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $91,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $876,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $352,101,000 after acquiring an additional 29,411 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 118,460 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $78,195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,871 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 528,966 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $349,165,000 after buying an additional 30,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.6%

NASDAQ META opened at $653.69 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $599.05 and a 200-day moving average of $608.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total transaction of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 36,227 shares of company stock worth $21,205,509 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $750.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $785.22.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Muse agent can perform tasks across Meta and third-party applications, including sending emails, booking travel, shopping and making payments. Free and paid tiers—reportedly priced as high as $100 per month—give investors a potential subscription revenue stream and a clearer path to monetizing AI infrastructure. Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps, send emails and make payments
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said early interest in Muse has exceeded expectations, boosting confidence that the product could achieve broad adoption across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Analysts remain constructive, with KeyBanc reaffirming an Overweight rating and a $780 price target. Meta says interest in its new AI agent has exceeded expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Market chatter indicates Meta acquired Stilla.ai to advance its Business Agent initiative. If confirmed, the deal could strengthen Meta’s tools for business automation, commerce and customer interactions. Market chatter on Meta’s acquisition of Stilla.ai
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic reportedly posted a high-paying sales role aimed at Meta, highlighting Meta’s importance as a major AI customer and suggesting continued demand for advanced AI models and infrastructure. The posting was later removed. Anthropic posted and deleted a sales job targeting Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s planned data-center expansion and optical-network agreements support its long-term AI ambitions, but the associated capital spending could pressure margins before agent subscriptions and other AI products become profitable. Meta’s AI capital-spending plans
• Negative Sentiment: Star AI researcher Andrew Tulloch is leaving Meta less than a year after reportedly receiving a billion-dollar compensation package. The departure raises concerns about retaining elite AI talent during an increasingly competitive hiring cycle. Star AI researcher leaves Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Muse’s ability to access sensitive data and act across applications increases privacy, security and regulatory risks. Meta also faces litigation over alleged crypto-scam advertising, while its chief accounting officer sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company's principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.

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