Vaquero Private Wealth Ltd. Makes New $839,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Vaquero Private Wealth Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,489 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Bayban increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Mizuho set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.32.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Pocket in the U.S., an AI-powered app that lets users create and share interactive games through text prompts. The product could increase engagement and expand Meta’s consumer AI ecosystem. Meta brings Pocket to U.S. users
• Positive Sentiment: Meta introduced a Mac app for Meta AI with system-wide dictation and screen-aware assistance. The company is also pricing its new Muse Code coding agent below Anthropic and OpenAI offerings, potentially helping it attract developers and build AI adoption. Meta AI launches Mac app
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong, with quarterly revenue rising 28% year over year to $60.8 billion. AI-related improvements to recommendations and ad delivery are supporting engagement, clicks and conversion efficiency. Meta drawdown analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is contesting the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to revive monopoly charges. The company argues that Facebook and Instagram users increasingly see recommended content rather than posts from friends, a defense that could influence the case’s regulatory implications. Meta fights FTC monopoly charges
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li and insider Curtis Mahoney sold shares worth roughly $10.3 million in aggregate under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. The transactions are limited as discretionary signals but may still affect investor sentiment. Meta insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Child-safety and social-media addiction litigation is intensifying. Testimony alleging that some safety tools were “designed to fail” raises the possibility of major damages, mandated product changes, restrictions on engagement features and pressure on advertising monetization. Meta social media lawsuit trial
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavier AI capital spending will depress second-half free cash flow and increase financial pressure. Those concerns follow Meta’s quarterly EPS miss, despite its revenue beat, and have contributed to the stock’s year-to-date weakness. Meta stock investment analysis

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $593.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $615.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $790.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 1,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,092,006. This represents a 44.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total value of $280,780.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,671.08. The trade was a 14.52% 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 have sold 38,502 shares of company stock valued at $22,603,485 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

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.