Gabelli Funds LLC Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds reduced its Meta position by 1.4%, selling 2,402 shares and retaining 169,007 shares valued at approximately $96.7 million. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of Meta’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $835.64. Meta recently exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $10.44 in quarterly EPS and $56.31 billion in revenue, up 33.1% year over year.
• Meta shares opened at $593.41, near their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while insiders have sold roughly $23.1 million of stock over the past 90 days. Investors are weighing the benefits of AI-driven advertising and infrastructure investments against rising AI capital spending, legal risks and potential margin pressure.

Gabelli Funds LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,007 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,402 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.7% of Gabelli Funds LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Gabelli Funds LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $96,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Point Break Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 90.8% in the 1st quarter. Point Break Capital Management LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,217,000 after acquiring an additional 6,835 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the first quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 37,736 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $21,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 21.2% during the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 1,966 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 92.0% in the 1st quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 359,025 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $205,409,000 after purchasing an additional 32,310 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $767.00 to $835.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an "overweight" rating on the stock. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $540,576.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,972.95. This represents a 10.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,859 shares of company stock worth $23,087,979. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of META stock opened at $593.41 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $603.98 and a 200-day moving average of $624.67. 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 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.51 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 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Meta’s advertising business to benefit from higher impressions, stronger user engagement and AI-powered ad targeting. Consensus expectations call for approximately $60.2 billion in revenue and $7.18 in earnings per share, while traders anticipate a sizable post-earnings move. Will Higher Ad Revenues Aid Meta Platforms Stock in Q2 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its buy rating and assigned an $800 price target, implying substantial upside from recent levels. Meta’s comparatively modest valuation and history of earnings beats could support the shares if results and guidance exceed expectations. Guggenheim rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and BlackRock formed an approximately $14 billion venture to develop a one-gigawatt AI data-center campus in El Paso, Texas. The 80/20 structure brings outside capital into Meta’s infrastructure expansion and may reduce near-term balance-sheet pressure while securing future computing capacity. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to emphasize Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and its broader AI strategy on the earnings call. It also joined Nvidia, Alphabet and OpenAI in supporting open-weight AI models, potentially influencing future product development and regulation. Meta likely to highlight smart glasses
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are increasingly concerned that AI capital expenditures—potentially reaching $125 billion to $145 billion—will compress margins and weaken free cash flow before Meta develops a direct AI revenue stream. Alphabet’s higher spending forecast has intensified skepticism toward hyperscaler stocks. Hyperscalers face higher capex scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces ongoing lawsuits alleging harm to teenagers and inadequate safeguards against abuse on its platforms, creating potential financial liabilities and reputational damage. COO Javier Olivan also sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, although insider selling is not necessarily a bearish signal. Meta disregarded its own research on teen harm

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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