Groupe la Francaise Has $121.43 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 3.4% in Q1, owning 201,791 shares valued at approximately $121.4 million, making it the firm's 7th largest position.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CFO Susan J. Li recently sold a combined total of 34,179 shares of Meta, valued at over $25 million, reflecting significant insider activity.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Bank of America setting a new goal of $900 and Pivotal Research aiming for $930, indicating positive market sentiment.

Groupe la Francaise reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 201,791 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 7,157 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.6% of Groupe la Francaise's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $121,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,435 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $400,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,128 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,174,200. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,803 shares of company stock worth $235,276,424 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1%

META stock traded up $15.69 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $754.79. 10,590,214 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,655,942. The company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $730.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $656.98. 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 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during 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%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

About Meta Platforms

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.