Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Purchases 9,060 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 137.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,649 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,060 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in 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 buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $578.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $592.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $611.14. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $790.80.

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 analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta’s social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta’s AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
• Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta’s child-safety deal and age verification
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,092,006. The trade was a 44.34% 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. Insiders sold a total of 32,987 shares of company stock valued at $19,202,995 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $750.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.22.

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.