Institutional Investors Adjust Meta Platforms Holdings Following Strong Earnings
Institutional investors shifted their positions in Meta Platforms after the company delivered quarterly earnings and revenue that topped expectations. Analysts maintain a consensus Moderate Buy rating on the stock.
Recent regulatory disclosures show mixed moves by institutional investors in Meta Platforms, Inc. shares during the third quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC established a new stake of 12,586 shares valued at approximately $9,127,000, while OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd bought 1,640 shares worth about $1,189,000. Providence First Trust Co boosted its holding by 188.1% to 3,163 shares. In contrast, Waycross Partners LLC reduced its position by 17.7% to 65,870 shares, and International Assets Investment Management LLC cut its stake by 9.2% to 19,853 shares. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively control 79.91% of the company's equity.
On Monday, November 2nd, Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan sold 946 shares of Meta stock at an average price of $614.15, generating $580,985.90 under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The transaction decreased Olivan's stake by 18.77%, leaving him with 4,094 shares valued at $2,514,330.10. Company insiders have sold 149,398 shares valued at $102,134,435 across the past ninety days, and corporate insiders hold 13.42% of the total shares.
The portfolio adjustments followed Meta's quarterly financial results released on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported earnings per share of $7.40, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $6.54. Revenue reached $64.60 billion, beating expectations of $63.34 billion and increasing 26.1% from the prior year's quarter. Meta posted a return on equity of 30.73% and a net margin of 31.15%. Analysts forecast the firm will generate 29.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Wall Street sentiment remains largely constructive. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock holds an average consensus rating of Moderate Buy, with 50 analysts rating it a Buy or Strong Buy and seven assigning a Hold rating. The average analyst price target stands at $833.12. Following the results, research firms adjusted their targets, including Cantor Fitzgerald raising its target from $840.00 to $860.00, Pivotal Research moving from $930.00 to $960.00, and Scotiabank increasing from $600.00 to $650.00.
Meta shares opened at $628.77 on Thursday, with a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44. The stock has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $779.82.