Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3%, bringing its ownership to 801,916 shares, valued at approximately $462 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Several large investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Northern Trust Corp, significantly increased their stakes in Meta Platforms, highlighting strong institutional interest despite Epoch's reduction.
• Recent research analyst upgrades for Meta Platforms include a boost in target prices, with notable raises from Roth Capital and HSBC, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock's future performance.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 801,916 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 44,476 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.4% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $462,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,030,399,000 after acquiring an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $784.32, for a total transaction of $364,708.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,877 shares in the company, valued at $6,962,408.64. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 312,767 shares of company stock worth $234,618,139 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $753.30 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day moving average is $731.33 and its 200-day moving average is $657.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.

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