Virtus Advisers LLC Sells 1,323 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Virtus Advisers LLC reduced its stake in Meta Platforms by 66.5%, selling 1,323 shares, and now holds 666 shares valued at approximately $384,000.
• Meta recently reported a quarterly EPS of $7.14, significantly beating estimates, with revenue of $47.52 billion, marking a 21.6% year-over-year increase.
• Insiders at Meta have sold a total of 313,803 shares over the last 90 days, valued at around $235 million, indicating significant insider trading activity.

Virtus Advisers LLC reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 66.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 666 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,323 shares during the quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $980.00 target price (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Evercore ISI increased 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. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of META opened at $754.79 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $730.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $656.98.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company's 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 represents a 4.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.