Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 201,147 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 37,871 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $115,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake 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 worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $322,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $789.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% 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. Insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 8.0%

META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $602.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $623.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META's Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta's AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta's future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.

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