Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s 10th Largest Position

Key Points

• Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 2.0%, currently holding 510,972 shares valued at $294.5 million.
• Wall Street analysts have set a moderately optimistic outlook for Meta, with an average price target of $822.41 and multiple upgrades to "buy" and "strong-buy" ratings.
• Meta reported quarterly earnings of $7.14 EPS, surpassing expectations, and experienced a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 510,972 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 10,565 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 5.3% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $294,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded up $3.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $752.45. The stock had a trading volume of 9,655,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,507,611. The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $738.39 and a 200 day moving average of $658.81. 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 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was 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 represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value 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 approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 312,341 shares of company stock valued at $234,443,690 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms 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.