NFJ Investment Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 18.9% in Q1, selling 531 shares and leaving it with 2,284 shares valued at approximately $1.32 million.
• A number of analysts raised their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Raymond James Financial setting a target of $900 and maintaining a "strong-buy" rating.
• Meta reported strong Q2 earnings, beating estimates with an EPS of $7.14 and revenue of $47.52 billion, increasing 21.6% year-over-year.

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 18.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,284 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 531 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $1,162,918,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,733,061 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,111,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470,070 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $3.80 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $752.45. 9,655,823 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,507,611. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $738.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $658.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.32, for a total value of $364,708.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,877 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,962,408.64. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 312,341 shares of company stock worth $234,443,690 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

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.