Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Griffith & Werner Inc.'s 7th Largest Position

Griffith & Werner Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,301 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.5% of Griffith & Werner Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Griffith & Werner Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $876,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $352,101,000 after purchasing an additional 29,411 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $785.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total value of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,652,671.08. This represents a 14.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $910,200. This represents a 45.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $578.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business's 50 day moving average price is $592.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $611.61. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $790.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.14 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 EPS for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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