Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,670 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 40,457 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Sapient Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $75,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days, insiders sold 37,770 shares of company stock valued at $23,034,051. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI spending narrative improves: Strong earnings from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and other cloud companies suggest enterprise AI demand remains robust, supporting the case for continued infrastructure investment and potentially greater monetization of Meta’s AI tools and recommendation systems. Amazon Just Flipped the AI Capex Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation attracts buyers: Multiple analyses describe Meta as inexpensive relative to its growth, citing a forward P/E near 17 and expectations for approximately 40% upside. Evercore’s Mark Mahaney reportedly named Meta a top large-cap idea with an $820 price target, while other analysts also maintain bullish views. Meta Named a Top Large-Cap Long Idea
• Positive Sentiment: Core advertising business remains strong: Recent coverage highlights rising revenue, ad impressions, ad prices and user engagement. Investors are encouraged that Meta’s AI investments may already be improving targeting, recommendations and advertising performance. Mark Zuckerberg Says He’s Betting Big on AI Compute
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings showed substantial growth: Meta’s latest quarter produced $60.8 billion in revenue, up 28% year over year and above estimates. That growth, combined with a comparatively low valuation, is driving “buy-the-dip” recommendations. Is Meta Stock a Buy on the Dip?
• Neutral Sentiment: International exposure is a key variable: Investors are assessing Meta’s dependence on overseas revenue, including the stability of international advertising demand and currency-related risks. Meta International Revenues Trends
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment remains the main risk: Meta’s earnings miss and concerns about sharply higher capital expenditures, weaker free cash flow and the timing of returns caused the recent post-earnings pressure. Some analysts have also reduced price targets, including Bank of America to $810 and Monness Crespi & Hardt to $730. What’s Going on With Meta Stock?

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $590.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $600.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $622.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

About Meta Platforms

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.