Wormser Freres Gestion Cuts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Wormser Freres Gestion reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 52.4%, owning 5,729 shares after selling 6,311 shares in Q1, making it the company's 20th largest position.
• Meta Platforms reported a Q2 earnings per share (EPS) of $7.14, surpassing estimates by $1.39, and generated $47.52 billion in revenue, a 21.6% increase year-over-year.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Assenagon Asset Management, made significant changes to their holdings in Meta Platforms, with GAMMA raising its stake by 67,172.9%.

Wormser Freres Gestion lessened its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 52.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,729 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 6,311 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.0% of Wormser Freres Gestion's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Wormser Freres Gestion's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 have sold 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $15.69 on Friday, reaching $754.79. The stock had a trading volume of 10,590,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,538,896. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day moving average price is $730.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $657.36. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Zacks Research downgraded Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

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.