Next Century Growth Investors LLC Has $6.51 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Next Century Growth Investors LLC reduced its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.8% in Q1, owning 11,297 shares worth $6.51 million as of the last reporting period.
• Institutional investors now hold 79.91% of Meta's stock, with large players like GAMMA Investing LLC significantly increasing their positions.
• Meta Platforms reported strong Q2 earnings, with an EPS of $7.14, exceeding estimates by $1.39 and a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Next Century Growth Investors LLC decreased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,297 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,127 shares during the quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,184,163,000 after purchasing an additional 400,927 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,977,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,546 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,030,399,000 after acquiring an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,041,171 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,787,329,000 after acquiring an additional 247,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $755.11, for a total value of $390,391.87. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,522,692.21. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 313,284 shares of company stock worth $235,008,531. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $747.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $733.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $658.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27.

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

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.

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