Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Bought by Dorsey Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Dorsey Asset Management increased its Meta stake by 0.8% in the first quarter, purchasing 1,233 additional shares to own 161,683 shares valued at approximately $92.5 million.
• Meta’s second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, beating estimates, but EPS fell to $6.18 and missed expectations due partly to legal and severance costs.
• Investors remain focused on Meta’s planned $130 billion–$145 billion AI and data-center spending, which could pressure margins and free cash flow despite strong advertising growth and a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating.

Dorsey Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 161,683 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 7.4% of Dorsey Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Dorsey Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $92,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,789,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue increased 27%, ad impressions grew 14%, and average price per ad rose 12%, indicating that Meta’s core advertising business remains robust. Meta stock sinks as Q2 earnings disappoint on multiple fronts
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said Reality Labs lost more than $4.6 billion, but the loss was narrower than analysts expected. The company also continues pursuing enterprise AI, including business agents for customer service and other workplace functions. Meta's Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: A $14 billion El Paso data-center venture with BlackRock will help Meta secure approximately one gigawatt of AI capacity while sharing financing and balance-sheet risk. The structure could reduce the immediate burden of Meta’s infrastructure buildout, although Meta remains the facility’s primary tenant. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 price target, while a Seeking Alpha analysis cited a normalized operating margin of roughly 36.8% after excluding legal and severance charges. Meta Platforms Q2: The Market Sells, I Buy The Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta forecast third-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, broadly around but slightly below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint. No EPS outlook was provided in the reported guidance. Zuckerberg also promoted open AI development and opposed restrictions on Chinese AI models, positions that may support innovation but could attract regulatory scrutiny. Zuckerberg says Meta's enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS fell to $6.18, missing estimates near $7.1–$7.2 and declining from $7.14 a year earlier. Results were pressured by approximately $2.4 billion of legal costs and $1.2 billion of severance expenses. Meta misses profit expectations, sticks to massive AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and data-center infrastructure this year, with the minimum raised by $5 billion. Investors fear the spending will compress margins and free cash flow before a direct AI revenue stream is proven. Meta shares tumble as AI spending stuns Wall Street
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his holdings in two transactions. Because the sales were scheduled, they are a limited bearish signal but may reinforce investor caution. SEC insider transaction filing

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:META opened at $585.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $603.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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