Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $128.19 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 15.1% to $128.19 million, selling over 39,000 shares during the first quarter.
• Several other institutional investors made significant changes to their META holdings, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holdings by an astounding 67,172.9% to nearly $13.52 billion.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their target prices for Meta Platforms, with JMP Securities setting a new target of $900.00 and a "market outperform" rating, indicating positive growth expectations.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 222,420 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 39,569 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $128,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $2,990,544,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,162,918,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on META shares. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the sale, the insider 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 312,767 shares of company stock worth $234,618,139. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $753.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $731.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $657.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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