Everest Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Everest Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,449 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,998 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.5% of Everest Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Everest Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 318,367 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,147,000 after buying an additional 66,129 shares in the last quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.2% during the first quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC now owns 3,086,864 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,766,088,000 after acquiring an additional 336,249 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 71.8% during the first quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,865 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares in the last quarter. Van Diest Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.8% during the first quarter. Van Diest Capital LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the first quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA now owns 96,751 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,354,000 after acquiring an additional 8,150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on META. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue increased 27%, ad impressions grew 14%, and average price per ad rose 12%, indicating that Meta’s core advertising business remains robust. Meta stock sinks as Q2 earnings disappoint on multiple fronts
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said Reality Labs lost more than $4.6 billion, but the loss was narrower than analysts expected. The company also continues pursuing enterprise AI, including business agents for customer service and other workplace functions. Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: A $14 billion El Paso data-center venture with BlackRock will help Meta secure approximately one gigawatt of AI capacity while sharing financing and balance-sheet risk. The structure could reduce the immediate burden of Meta’s infrastructure buildout, although Meta remains the facility’s primary tenant. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 price target, while a Seeking Alpha analysis cited a normalized operating margin of roughly 36.8% after excluding legal and severance charges. Meta Platforms Q2: The Market Sells, I Buy The Dip
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta forecast third-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, broadly around but slightly below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint. No EPS outlook was provided in the reported guidance. Zuckerberg also promoted open AI development and opposed restrictions on Chinese AI models, positions that may support innovation but could attract regulatory scrutiny. Zuckerberg says Meta’s enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS fell to $6.18, missing estimates near $7.1–$7.2 and declining from $7.14 a year earlier. Results were pressured by approximately $2.4 billion of legal costs and $1.2 billion of severance expenses. Meta misses profit expectations, sticks to massive AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and data-center infrastructure this year, with the minimum raised by $5 billion. Investors fear the spending will compress margins and free cash flow before a direct AI revenue stream is proven. Meta shares tumble as AI spending stuns Wall Street
• Negative Sentiment: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his holdings in two transactions. Because the sales were scheduled, they are a limited bearish signal but may reinforce investor caution. SEC insider transaction filing

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $585.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $603.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.