Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Sells 4,038 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,524 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 4,038 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 sold 37,770 shares of company stock worth $23,034,051 over the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4%

META opened at $587.94 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $600.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $622.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company’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 earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding expectations, while AI-powered recommendations and ad tools are improving user engagement and monetization. Some analysts and investors view the post-earnings selloff as an attractive entry point because the core advertising business remains strong. META Q2 Deep Dive: AI Investment Drives Engagement as Margins Face Pressure
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentaries argue that Meta’s large AI investment could support longer-term growth rather than represent wasteful spending. Optimistic analysts point to the company’s scale, advertising cash flow and potential for AI to strengthen recommendations, ad targeting and new products. 28% Revenue Growth Ignored: Why Panic-Selling Meta Stock Over Infrastructure Spend Is a Mistake
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is scheduled to participate in White House discussions with other leading AI companies about voluntary safety testing for advanced models following concerns about rogue AI agents. The meeting could improve regulatory relations, although it also highlights growing oversight risks for Meta’s AI initiatives. Meta, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI to Meet With Trump White House
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about the scale and duration of Meta’s AI infrastructure commitments. Meta and other Big Tech companies have roughly $1.09 trillion in future payments under data-center leases, increasing fixed obligations before the spending generates returns. Meta also missed quarterly EPS expectations and issued revenue guidance below consensus, raising concerns about margin pressure and execution. AI Data-Centre Race Builds $1 Trillion Lease Burden for Big Tech

About Meta Platforms

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.