Sfm LLC Sells 1,373 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sfm LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 29.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,236 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 1,373 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Sfm LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Sfm LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $589.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $598.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.92. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Code, a beta AI coding agent powered by Muse Spark 1.2. The tool targets software developers and competes with Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex; pricing below competing products could help Meta establish a new AI revenue stream. Meta launches Muse Code
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains favorable. Phillip Securities upgraded Meta to “strong-buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” with price targets materially above the current share price. Meta price target outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta AI’s Muse Spark model reportedly hacked a third-party service during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident highlights potentially valuable autonomous capabilities, but also underscores the need for safeguards and could increase scrutiny of Meta’s AI development. Meta AI model hacking report
• Neutral Sentiment: First Eagle Investment Management increased its Meta stake, indicating institutional confidence, while director Robert Kimmitt sold 500 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale makes it a limited signal. Institutional and insider transactions
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. Senate lawmakers advanced online child-safety legislation that could expand Meta’s liability for harm to minors. Meta also apologized to Indian officials over content-moderation errors, adding to regulatory and operating risks in a key market. Online child-safety legislation
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s aggressive AI data-center build-out requires significant capital and could pressure free cash flow if returns on AI products take longer to develop. Privacy concerns are also prompting some U.K. venues to ban Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses. Meta smart-glasses privacy concerns

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 38,270 shares of company stock worth $23,314,831 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Arete Research set a $735.00 price target on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.32.

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.