Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Position Lifted by Western Wealth Management LLC

Western Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,662 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,758 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.6% of Western Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $789.95.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 8.0%

META stock opened at $539.03 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $602.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $623.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.81% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META’s Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
• Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta’s future AI data center lease obligations
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

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.