Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon reduced its Meta stake by 2.3% in the second quarter, selling 320,215 shares and retaining 13.8 million shares worth approximately $7.8 billion. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 79.91% of Meta.
• Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent capable of handling tasks across Facebook, Instagram and third-party apps, creating potential subscription revenue beyond advertising. The company is also expanding AI infrastructure, though its substantial spending—including a potential $130 billion capital-expenditure commitment—has raised return-on-investment concerns.
• Meta’s stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $785.22, despite several analysts recently lowering targets. The company reported 28% year-over-year revenue growth to $60.8 billion in its latest quarter but missed earnings estimates, while its AI push faces privacy, regulatory and legal risks.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,833,621 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 320,215 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.55% of Meta Platforms worth $7,792,340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent that can interact with Facebook, Instagram and third-party applications to perform tasks such as sending emails, booking travel, shopping and making payments. The product includes free and paid subscription tiers, offering a potential new revenue stream beyond digital advertising. Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps to send emails, make payments
• Positive Sentiment: The rollout follows the release of Muse Spark 1.3, a model aimed at coding and extended agentic tasks. Investors viewed the development as evidence that Meta’s substantial AI investment could eventually generate financial returns; Bank of America reportedly continues to see meaningful upside in the stock. Meta stock jumps 4% after Muse Spark 1.3: why BofA still sees 32% upside
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and Panmnesia proposed a data-center architecture designed to connect computing resources more tightly for extremely large AI models. The initiative supports Meta’s strategy of building extensive AI infrastructure and could improve long-term computing efficiency. One Chip, One Datacenter: Meta and Panmnesia Extend Tight Coupling Beyond the Rack with CXL
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Meta’s large AI infrastructure spending, reportedly including a potential $130 billion capital-expenditure commitment. Strong advertising growth and user monetization support the investment case, but the scale of spending raises execution and return-on-investment concerns. Wall Street Keeps Asking How Much Meta Will Spend
• Negative Sentiment: Muse increases Meta’s exposure to privacy, security and consumer-trust concerns because it can access sensitive information and act across other applications. Reports noted internal concerns about potential misuse or mishandling of personal data, which could increase regulatory and reputational risks. Meta pushes into personal AI agents as company faces public reckoning over privacy and safety
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces continuing legal pressure, including a reported lawsuit alleging facial-recognition data was used to train smart-glasses systems. Separately, the company’s chief accounting officer sold 3,240 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan; the planned nature of the sale reduces its significance, but insider selling may weigh modestly on sentiment.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock 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 for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $613.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The business's 50 day moving average price is $598.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $608.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $790.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,227 shares of company stock valued at $21,205,509. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company's principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.

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