Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Stock: Milestone Asset Management LLC Trims Position

Milestone Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 48.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 858 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Watchman Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the first quarter. Watchman Group Inc. now owns 5,091 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Penney Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the first quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 399 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the first quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $869,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 1,206 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, CWS Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the first quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 985 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Meta to exceed third-quarter revenue expectations, forecasting $63.8 billion versus a $63.3 billion consensus estimate, and maintained a Buy rating with an $810 price target. Meta expected to beat revenue forecasts as AI boosts advertising, says Bank of America
• Positive Sentiment: Meta released the open-weight Muse Spark model for coding and AI-agent tasks, while its collaboration with Apple enables developers to run the model locally on high-end Mac computers. The developments could broaden adoption of Meta’s AI technology and reduce reliance on cloud infrastructure. Meta releases open-weight Muse Spark model
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Overweight rating and set a $920 price target, implying substantial upside, while other analysts including KeyCorp and Rosenblatt also maintained positive ratings. JPMorgan reaffirms Meta rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to report third-quarter results on October 21. Investors will focus on advertising growth, user metrics, profitability, capital expenditures, and management’s outlook for AI infrastructure spending. Meta Q3 earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta withdrew $25 million from a previously announced $65 million effort to support political candidates considered favorable to the AI industry. The move may reduce near-term spending but signals a change in its political strategy. Meta Withdraws $25 Million from Its Midterms Push
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst-related pressure is weighing on the stock after Goldman Sachs lowered its expectations and Meta was reported down following an analyst downgrade, countering the more bullish JPMorgan view. Meta stock price down on analyst downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that AI infrastructure spending could reach approximately $205 billion in 2027. Heavy capital expenditures are reducing free cash flow, while potential legal charges and regulatory scrutiny add to earnings risk. Meta AI spending could hit $205 billion
• Negative Sentiment: Seven U.S. senators are questioning Meta’s claim of $6.6 billion in research tax credits for AI data centers, creating potential tax liability and reputational risk. Senators question Meta AI data-center tax credits

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total transaction of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher Cox sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $712.76, for a total value of $28,510,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 184,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $131,515,624.16. This represents a 17.82% decrease in their position. 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 a total of 149,797 shares of company stock valued at $102,180,385 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7%

NASDAQ META opened at $709.33 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $779.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $655.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $625.86.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period 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. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $895.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $687.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. President Capital upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $660.00 to $897.00 in a report on Thursday, September 24th. CICC Research lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $773.00 to $700.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $808.88.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.