Sheets Smith Investment Management Has $1.33 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Sheets Smith Investment Management reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.5%, selling 2,176 shares and now holding 2,306 shares, which make up 1.3% of its investment portfolio.
• Meta Platforms recently experienced several analysts boosting their price targets, with estimates ranging from $740.00 to $900.00 and a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, set to be paid on September 29th, as part of its dividend policy with a payout ratio of 7.60%.

Sheets Smith Investment Management trimmed its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 48.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,306 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 2,176 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Sheets Smith Investment Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Sheets Smith Investment Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,543,468 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,229,553,000 after acquiring an additional 536,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $822.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.50, for a total value of $393,142.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 31,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,777,167.50. This represents a 1.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 283,280 shares of company stock worth $214,119,908. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $4.69 on Friday, hitting $755.59. The stock had a trading volume of 8,240,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,776,048. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve 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. The business's 50 day moving average is $741.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $661.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

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.