Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Acquires 9,060 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Levin Capital Strategies increased its Meta Platforms stake by 137.5% in the second quarter, purchasing 9,060 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 15,649 shares valued at approximately $8.8 million.
• Meta reported strong revenue growth of 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, though quarterly EPS of $6.18 fell short of the $7.19 consensus estimate. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $785.22.
• Investors continue to weigh Meta’s advertising strength and potential benefits from its social-media settlement against risks from heavy AI spending, executive departures, child-safety compliance costs and possible restrictions affecting teen engagement.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 137.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,649 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,060 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta's social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta's AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
• Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta's child-safety deal and age verification
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $578.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company's 50 day moving average is $592.28 and its 200 day moving average is $611.14. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $790.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,987 shares of company stock valued at $19,202,995. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $785.22.

About Meta Platforms

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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