Clarkston Capital Partners LLC Decreases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Clarkston Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,251 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 102.6% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $402,225.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 32,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,533,150. This trade represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $400,675.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,174,200. This trade represents a 3.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 313,803 shares of company stock worth $235,276,424 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on META. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1%

META opened at $754.79 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $730.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $657.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms 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.