Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc Trims Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,065 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norinchukin Bank The boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.6% during the first quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 132,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $76,480,000 after purchasing an additional 29,487 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.4% in the first quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 138,330 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,893,000 after acquiring an additional 27,121 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the first quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 59,085 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,054,000 after buying an additional 1,436 shares during the period. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the first quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 5,545 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,196,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the first quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 48,561 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,988,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $754.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $730.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $657.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 313,803 shares of company stock worth $235,276,424 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.