Saudi Central Bank Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• The Saudi Central Bank significantly reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 99.7%, selling 334,012 shares and now holds only 858 shares, which amounts to about 2.6% of its portfolio.
• Financial analysts have a positive outlook on Meta Platforms, with multiple upgrades and target price increases, including a boost from HSBC to $900.00 and a "Moderate Buy" consensus rating.
• Insider selling activity includes major transactions by Jennifer Newstead and CTO Andrew Bosworth, with over 300,000 shares sold by insiders in the past ninety days, indicating a 13.61% insider ownership post-sales.

Saudi Central Bank reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 99.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 858 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 334,012 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.6% of Saudi Central Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Saudi Central Bank's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in 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 buying an additional 1,255,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $3.59 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $735.11. The company had a trading volume of 9,294,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,485,708. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $736.54 and a 200-day moving average of $657.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 312,767 shares of company stock worth $234,716,347 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

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.