Lotus Asset Management LLC Purchases 824 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Lotus Asset Management initiated a Meta Platforms position by purchasing 824 shares valued at approximately $464,000, representing 0.4% of its portfolio. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 79.91% of Meta’s stock.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 44 Buy and three Strong Buy ratings versus 10 Holds. Meta has a consensus price target of $787.86, compared with shares opening at $726.91.
• Meta’s latest quarterly revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion but earnings per share of $6.18 missed expectations of $7.19. The company also faces scrutiny over substantial AI spending and recent insider sales conducted under pre-arranged trading plans.

Lotus Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 824 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $464,000. Meta Platforms comprises 0.4% of Lotus Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,850,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,732,448,000 after purchasing an additional 155,422 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $168,987,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $786,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 90.6% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 27,048 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $15,236,000 after buying an additional 12,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the second quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 9,150 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $815.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $787.86.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $726.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $620.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $614.49. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $779.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 27.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were issued a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its Muse AI agent to small businesses with integrations including Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe, Canva, Slack and Dropbox. The move could diversify revenue beyond advertising and create opportunities in subscriptions, transaction fees and enterprise software. Meta expands Muse AI agent for small businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Muse as a potential multibillion-dollar growth catalyst, citing early adoption, integration across Meta’s apps and possible commercial API and subscription revenue. AI tools are also expected to improve advertising engagement and conversions. Analysts align on Meta Muse as a growth catalyst
• Positive Sentiment: Strategists argue Meta could be relatively resilient if AI infrastructure spending slows because it is using AI to enhance an existing advertising business rather than relying solely on hardware sales. A reported $27 billion AI-capacity agreement with Nebius also underscores continued infrastructure investment. Nvidia AI capex and Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transactions reduced his holdings, but scheduled sales generally provide a weaker signal than discretionary insider trading. SEC insider ownership filing
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI launched Dots, an always-on AI agent positioned against Muse, raising concerns that Meta’s newest growth story could face powerful competition from OpenAI, Google and Apple. OpenAI follows Meta into personal agents
• Negative Sentiment: Reports alleging that Muse accessed private messages without permission have created privacy and reputational concerns, although Meta disputes the claims. Investors are also monitoring heavy AI and data-center spending, a recent quarterly EPS miss, and questions over whether the investment will generate sufficient returns. Meta disputes Muse privacy claim
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg separately sold approximately $21.4 million of stock under a Rule 10b5-1 plan. While scheduled, the sale may add to short-term investor caution following the stock’s sharp rally. Mark Zuckerberg stock sale

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 27,474 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $777.44, for a total value of $21,359,386.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $462,024. This 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. Insiders have sold 151,882 shares of company stock worth $103,032,319 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company operates a global family of apps that includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, enabling users to connect, communicate, share content and discover communities.

Meta generates most of its business through digital advertising displayed across its platforms. Its products serve individuals, creators, businesses and organizations in markets around the world, while its advertising tools help businesses reach audiences based on factors such as interests, activity and demographics.

Through its Reality Labs division, Meta develops virtual and augmented reality hardware, software and services, including the Meta Quest line of headsets and related experiences.

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