Atticus Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 30.6% in the second quarter, owning 1,860 shares valued at $1,373,000.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC, significantly boosted their stakes in Meta during the first quarter, with institutional ownership now at 79.91%.
• Meta recently reported an earnings per share of $7.14, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Atticus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,860 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Atticus Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Csenge Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,614,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.3% in the first quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 662 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $826.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 256,886 shares of company stock worth $195,693,600. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $4.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $760.99. The stock had a trading volume of 5,116,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,640,120. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $747.94 and a 200 day moving average of $667.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.