Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Greenwood Capital Associates cut its Meta stake by 15.2% in the second quarter, selling 2,013 shares and retaining 11,220 shares valued at approximately $6.32 million.
• Other institutions generally increased their positions, with institutional investors and hedge funds owning 79.91% of Meta’s shares. Company insiders sold 81,758 shares worth about $51.2 million over the past 90 days.
• Analysts maintained a generally positive outlook, giving Meta a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $792.68, despite the company missing quarterly EPS expectations while reporting 28% year-over-year revenue growth.

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,220 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,013 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,836,063 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,230,426,000 after purchasing an additional 162,909 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the second quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 108,850 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $61,314,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.3% during the second quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 66,142 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $37,257,000 after purchasing an additional 5,634 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 749,836 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $422,375,000 after buying an additional 29,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its position in Meta Platforms by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 8,436 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,752,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $650.28, for a total transaction of $13,005,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 244,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $159,003,864.48. The trade was a 7.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 81,758 shares of company stock valued at $51,214,020 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $792.68.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $741.24 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $785.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $608.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $610.09.

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 the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The firm's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 27.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.91%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse is gaining rapid user adoption. Muse reportedly surpassed ChatGPT in early U.S. iOS downloads, with approximately 730,000 downloads in its first five days and stronger first-12-day performance than ChatGPT’s mobile launch. The traction is strengthening expectations that Meta can monetize AI through advertising, subscriptions and commerce. Meta Muse downloads article
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships support a broader AI platform strategy. Shopify plans to let Muse complete purchases across its merchant network, while reports also cited interest from services such as Stripe. These integrations could increase Muse’s usefulness and create future transaction or platform revenue opportunities. Shopify Muse checkout article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism added momentum. Wells Fargo raised its Meta price target to $796 from $640 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing Muse’s early traction, recent model launches and the upcoming Connect conference. Wells Fargo price target article
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure investments are being viewed as strategic growth spending. Meta’s planned Alberta data center and reported high-capacity subsea network reinforce its commitment to supporting AI workloads, although the investments could raise near-term costs.
• Neutral Sentiment: Connect is a near-term catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant volatility around Meta’s annual event, where the company may provide updates on Muse, AI models, hardware and monetization plans. Meta Connect trading expectations article
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its website, citing unauthorized access, security and credential concerns. The dispute highlights regulatory, privacy and platform-integration risks that could limit agentic-commerce adoption. Amazon blocks Muse article

Meta Platforms Profile

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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