Lavelle Capital LP Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Lavelle Capital LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 28,913 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,542,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 10.3% of Lavelle Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position 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 worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its position 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 valued at $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $671.00 to $595.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were 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 owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,770 shares of company stock worth $23,034,051. Corporate insiders own 13.53% 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

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $556.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. 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 50 day simple moving average of $601.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $622.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.