Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Key Points

• Ninety One UK Ltd reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.2%, selling 35,826 shares and ending with a total of 141,489 shares valued at approximately $104.4 million.
• Major financial firms have increased their price targets for META, with Morgan Stanley raising theirs to $850.00 and Pivotal Research setting a new target of $930.00, indicating a generally "overweight" or "buy" outlook.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew Bosworth sold significant amounts of stock recently, with Zuckerberg selling 15,847 shares at an average price of $769.38 and Bosworth selling 11,694 shares at $775.00, signaling potential insider cashing out amidst market fluctuations.

Ninety One UK Ltd lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 20.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 141,489 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 35,826 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $104,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,283,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 232.2% in the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 917 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Finally, Wiser Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Wiser Wealth Management Inc now owns 835 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $810.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $830.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total transaction of $12,192,364.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,209,720. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $713.08 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $753.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $677.16. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

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