Senator Investment Group LP Acquires 7,264 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Senator Investment Group LP increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 7.6%, making it the fund’s 10th largest holding, worth approximately $59 million.
• Meta reported a strong earnings performance with $7.14 EPS for the quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Meta shares, with KeyCorp increasing its target from $800 to $905 and HSBC upgrading its rating from "hold" to "buy".

Senator Investment Group LP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 102,480 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,264 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 3.1% of Senator Investment Group LP's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Senator Investment Group LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $59,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank OZK boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.4% during the first quarter. Bank OZK now owns 5,487 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,162,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Triple Frond Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,236,000. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc now owns 2,600 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,499,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the first quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC now owns 2,593 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 1,922 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $0.1870 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $754.6030. 2,911,384 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,152,299. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day moving average is $730.31 and its 200-day moving average is $656.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.