Ashton Thomas Securities LLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,922 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,402 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the first quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 121,343 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,938,000 after buying an additional 16,907 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the first quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 68,540 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $39,504,000 after buying an additional 7,325 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the first quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 755 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $100,511,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 29,915 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $17,242,000 after buying an additional 2,238 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7%
Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $738.70 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $735.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $657.95.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $755.11, for a total transaction of $390,391.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,611 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,692.21. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.32, for a total value of $364,708.80. Following the sale, the director owned 8,877 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,962,408.64. This represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 313,286 shares of company stock worth $235,064,596 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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