ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,432 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of 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 in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $705.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $752.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $678.77. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.68.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the 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 $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,182 shares of company stock valued at $164,946,219 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

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.