Sarasin & Partners LLP Reduces Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Sarasin & Partners LLP lessened its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 334,128 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 10,060 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.2% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $188,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Chapin Davis Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% during the second quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,239 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,711,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 9,159 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,159,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Trust Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 24,279 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,676,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 24,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,002,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This trade 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 have sold 38,270 shares of company stock valued at $23,314,831 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting 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

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $589.90 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $598.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $621.92. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $671.00 to $595.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.