Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Heck Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Heck Capital Advisors LLC has reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 72.4%, selling 2,209 shares and now owning 840 shares worth approximately $484,000.
• Meta Platforms' stock reported a strong performance, with earnings per share of $7.14 for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, and revenue reaching $47.52 billion.
• Insider sales included CEO Mark Zuckerberg selling 15,847 shares for over $11.9 million, contributing to a total of 269,243 shares sold by insiders in the last 90 days.

Heck Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 72.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 840 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,209 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $2,990,544,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,462,589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total transaction of $11,517,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 222,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $170,608,999. This trade represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total transaction of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 267,732 shares of company stock worth $199,652,003 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $14.3710 on Tuesday, hitting $752.9990. 8,734,252 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,296,731. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The business's fifty day moving average is $725.90 and its 200 day moving average is $655.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.