Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Holdings Raised by Vestor Capital LLC

Vestor Capital LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6,929.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,299 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 69,299 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.9% of Vestor Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $40,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate. Meta: Buy The AI Spending Panic
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already improving ad performance, personalization and user engagement. Meta also highlighted potential enterprise AI products, personal AI agents and new applications. Buy Meta’s Earnings Drop
• Positive Sentiment: Despite reductions, major firms retained bullish ratings and price targets, including UBS at $715, Baird at $750, Cantor Fitzgerald at $680 and Rosenblatt at $883. The targets imply substantial long-term upside if Meta converts AI spending into monetization. Meta Given New Price Target at Baird
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings miss was partly affected by approximately $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance costs. Excluding these items, supporters argue that underlying profitability was healthier, but reported margins still declined.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta reported $6.18 in quarterly EPS, below expectations near $7.19, while free cash flow fell to only $784 million from $31.9 billion in operating cash flow as AI data-center capital expenditures surged. Investors remain unconvinced that the spending will generate adequate returns soon. Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag
• Negative Sentiment: Future AI-related lease obligations reached $279 billion, increasing concerns about balance-sheet commitments and execution risk. Additional legal and regulatory pressure includes a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that social-media companies harmed minors, plus an Indian police case involving Meta’s India chief over Facebook posts depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s AI Splurge Lays Bare Its Compute Conundrum

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $556.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $601.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $622.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.