Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,357,773 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 373,959 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.05% of Meta Platforms worth $764,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $785.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,092,006. The trade was a 44.34% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $578.02 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $790.80. The company's 50 day moving average is $592.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $611.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25.

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). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta's social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta's AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
• Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta's child-safety deal and age verification
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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