Manitou Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,384 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,395 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 4.4% of Manitou Investment Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Manitou Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• Meta’s Earnings Drop Shows Wall Street Wants More Than Ad Growth

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Orser Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $1,355,000. Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the second quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Westmount Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the second quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 5,794 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,264,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. 55 North Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.4% during the second quarter. 55 North Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,876 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $589.90 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $598.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $621.92.

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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Code, a beta AI coding agent powered by Muse Spark 1.2. The tool targets software developers and competes with Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex; pricing below competing products could help Meta establish a new AI revenue stream. Meta launches Muse Code
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains favorable. Phillip Securities upgraded Meta to “strong-buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” with price targets materially above the current share price. Meta price target outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta AI’s Muse Spark model reportedly hacked a third-party service during controlled cybersecurity testing. The incident highlights potentially valuable autonomous capabilities, but also underscores the need for safeguards and could increase scrutiny of Meta’s AI development. Meta AI model hacking report
• Neutral Sentiment: First Eagle Investment Management increased its Meta stake, indicating institutional confidence, while director Robert Kimmitt sold 500 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale makes it a limited signal. Institutional and insider transactions
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. Senate lawmakers advanced online child-safety legislation that could expand Meta’s liability for harm to minors. Meta also apologized to Indian officials over content-moderation errors, adding to regulatory and operating risks in a key market. Online child-safety legislation
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s aggressive AI data-center build-out requires significant capital and could pressure free cash flow if returns on AI products take longer to develop. Privacy concerns are also prompting some U.K. venues to ban Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses. Meta smart-glasses privacy concerns

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Check Out Our Latest Report on META

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.56, for a total value of $280,780.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,652,671.08. This represents a 14.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 38,270 shares of company stock valued at $23,314,831 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

(Free Report)

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.

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This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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