IFM Investors Pty Ltd Trims Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4%, owning 404,563 shares valued at approximately $233.17 million, making it the fifth largest holding in its portfolio.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their holdings in Meta, with a reported 79.91% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Meta Platforms reported a quarterly earnings per share of $7.14, exceeding analyst estimates of $5.75, along with 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 404,563 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,534 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.5% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $233,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp increased their price target 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 283,280 shares of company stock worth $214,119,908. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $4.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $755.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,240,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,776,048. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $741.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $661.92.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms 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.