FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Buys 1,330 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• FAS Wealth Partners increased its Meta Platforms position by 6.7%, purchasing 1,330 shares to own 21,295 shares worth approximately $12 million. Meta now represents about 0.6% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Institutional investors own approximately 79.91% of Meta’s outstanding shares, with Vanguard, State Street and other major funds adding to their positions.
• Meta’s latest quarterly earnings missed EPS expectations ($6.18 versus $7.19) despite revenue exceeding forecasts and rising 28% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $785.32, while insiders have sold nearly $20.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,295 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.6% of FAS Wealth Partners Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. FAS Wealth Partners Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1%

META opened at $576.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $790.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $592.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $612.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Settlement ends a high-profile trial and reduces legal uncertainty. Meta agreed to pay up to roughly $16.7 billion–$18 billion to settle claims brought by dozens of states alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed or misled young users. Investors appear to prefer a defined cost over the possibility of much larger damages or an adverse trial ruling. The payout is substantial but reportedly equivalent to only several months of Meta’s profits. Reuters settlement report
• Positive Sentiment: Restrictions are less disruptive than a fundamental business overhaul. The agreement requires measures including two-hour daily limits for teenage users, overnight blocking, muted school-hour notifications, autoplay controls, parental tools and stronger age verification. However, Meta is not required to abandon personalized recommendations or targeted advertising, preserving the core of its advertising model. Associated Press settlement report
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors continue to highlight Meta’s advertising and AI potential. A bullish analysis points to improving ad-ranking algorithms, rising ad impressions and pricing, strong network effects and Meta’s AA- credit rating. Evercore ISI also sees possible future revenue from excess AI-computing capacity as Meta expands its data-center infrastructure. These catalysts compete with concerns that the stock has declined in recent months and remains below its longer-term moving averages. Invezz AI infrastructure analysis
• Negative Sentiment: The settlement creates meaningful financial and regulatory costs. The maximum payment could reach $18 billion, while usage limits may reduce teen engagement and potentially weaken future advertising data and impressions. Reports also question whether Meta’s age-verification technology works reliably, and the company’s final obligations could become stricter if TikTok, YouTube and other competitors adopt similar safeguards. Meta still faces thousands of additional youth-related lawsuits. TechCrunch age-verification report

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% 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 have sold 34,957 shares of company stock valued at $20,442,696 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $785.00 price objective (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Profile

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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This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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