Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Holdings Decreased by Forbes J M & Co. LLP

Forbes J M & Co. LLP lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,208 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,614,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $812.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $811.00 to $837.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.61.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 213,146 shares of company stock valued at $164,209,720. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $713.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $753.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $677.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.60%.

About Meta Platforms

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.