Elite Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 20.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,677 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.0% of Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Elite Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after buying an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Benchmark began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.
Meta Platforms News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META’s Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
- Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
- Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
- Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
- Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
- Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta’s future AI data center lease obligations
- Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
- Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was 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 directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 8.0%
Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $539.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $602.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $623.44. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.81% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 7.63%.
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.
Read More
- Five stocks we like better than Meta Platforms
- Microsoft Just Flipped the AI Spending Narrative Overnight
- Qualcomm’s Turnaround Is Working, So Why Is Wall Street Selling?
- Meta’s Earnings Show Why Wall Street Is Losing Patience With AI Spending
- Can Starbucks Keep This Turnaround Going? The Latest Results Say Yes
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding META? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Meta Platforms Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Meta Platforms and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
