Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Has $41.35 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP cut its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,742 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 9,065 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. HSBC upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $402,225.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,533,150. This trade represents a 1.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This represents a 86.67% 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 valued at $235,276,424 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $6.6610 on Wednesday, hitting $744.8190. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,958,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,279,813. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $726.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $656.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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