Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock Holdings Trimmed by Oak Harvest Investment Services

Oak Harvest Investment Services lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 91.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 7,176 shares during the quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $750.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $549.90 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $593.51 and a 200-day moving average of $615.41. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $790.80.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,024. The trade was a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total value of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,652,671.08. This represents a 14.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 38,502 shares of company stock valued at $22,603,485 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Pocket in the U.S., an AI-powered app that lets users create and share interactive games through text prompts. The product could increase engagement and expand Meta’s consumer AI ecosystem. Meta brings Pocket to U.S. users
• Positive Sentiment: Meta introduced a Mac app for Meta AI with system-wide dictation and screen-aware assistance. The company is also pricing its new Muse Code coding agent below Anthropic and OpenAI offerings, potentially helping it attract developers and build AI adoption. Meta AI launches Mac app
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong, with quarterly revenue rising 28% year over year to $60.8 billion. AI-related improvements to recommendations and ad delivery are supporting engagement, clicks and conversion efficiency. Meta drawdown analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is contesting the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to revive monopoly charges. The company argues that Facebook and Instagram users increasingly see recommended content rather than posts from friends, a defense that could influence the case’s regulatory implications. Meta fights FTC monopoly charges
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li and insider Curtis Mahoney sold shares worth roughly $10.3 million in aggregate under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. The transactions are limited as discretionary signals but may still affect investor sentiment. Meta insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Child-safety and social-media addiction litigation is intensifying. Testimony alleging that some safety tools were “designed to fail” raises the possibility of major damages, mandated product changes, restrictions on engagement features and pressure on advertising monetization. Meta social media lawsuit trial
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavier AI capital spending will depress second-half free cash flow and increase financial pressure. Those concerns follow Meta’s quarterly EPS miss, despite its revenue beat, and have contributed to the stock’s year-to-date weakness. Meta stock investment analysis

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.