Montag A & Associates Inc. Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Montag A & Associates cut its Meta Platforms stake by 14.7% in the second quarter, selling 837 shares and retaining 4,867 shares valued at approximately $2.74 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.91% of Meta’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.22, although several firms recently lowered their targets. Meta’s latest quarter showed 28% year-over-year revenue growth to $60.8 billion but missed the EPS consensus estimate.
• Meta insiders have sold nearly $19.2 million of stock over the past three months, including significant sales by the CFO and COO under pre-arranged trading plans. The company’s shares recently opened at $616.77, below their 12-month high of $790.80.

Montag A & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 14.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,867 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 837 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp decreased 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 note on Thursday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $785.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 32,987 shares of company stock worth $19,202,995 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $616.77 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $790.80. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $596.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $609.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 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 33.18%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta opened paid developer access to Muse Spark 1.3, with company executives and analysts claiming the model is approaching or matching offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Improved performance and token efficiency could support adoption in coding agents, model APIs, subscriptions and future generative-search advertising. Meta Platforms: Muse Spark 1.3 Was The Warning Shot
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage identifies Muse Spark 1.3 as a new catalyst that could improve confidence in Meta’s AI roadmap and help the company recover toward its prior highs, provided the technology translates into revenue and returns on investment. Meta Rises 4% as Muse Spark 1.3 Claims Parity with Anthropic and OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Some investment commentary views Meta as a major beneficiary of the ongoing AI infrastructure and computing cycle, alongside other hyperscalers, potentially creating a long-term growth opportunity. Hyperscalers Are the Backbone of AI

Meta Platforms 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.

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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