East Coast Asset Management LLC. Sells 7,638 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• East Coast Asset Management cut its Meta stake by 35%, selling 7,638 shares and retaining 14,204 shares worth approximately $8.1 million. Meta represents about 2.7% of the firm’s portfolio, while institutional investors own nearly 80% of the stock.
• Meta’s latest quarterly revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding expectations, but EPS of $6.18 missed estimates of $7.19. The stock opened at $539.03, down 8%, amid investor concerns over accelerating AI spending, margin pressure and weaker-than-expected guidance.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $789.95 despite several firms lowering their targets. Meta also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.525, equivalent to a 0.4% annual yield.

East Coast Asset Management LLC. decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 35.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,204 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 7,638 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.7% of East Coast Asset Management LLC.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. East Coast Asset Management LLC.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bayban raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 8.0%

META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock's 50 day moving average is $602.23 and its 200-day moving average is $623.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.81% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META's Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta's AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta's future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.

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